Kaneshi!
by CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama
Summary: Based on the anime, the story of Naruto narrated firstperson by my own character. COMPLETE! So happy.
1. The Beginning

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 1  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...WAH**

**please review if you read it**

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A boy in a neon-orange jumpsuit whizzed past me, followed by men in their chuunin outfits. I sighed. My eyes followed where Naruto came from. What I saw knocked me off my feet.

"NARUTOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed. The four hokages' faces were graffitied all over. As much as I let Naruto go by with his pranks, and as much as I cared for him as my friend, this was just a little bit too far. Ok, fine, I was supposed to be at school too, but I decided to play hookie. School just wasn't enough for me, even if it was the only way to graduate and become an official shinobi.

Another blurry figure whizzed past me, I heard Naruto scream, "something - Iruka sensei!". This was my chance to get to class before getting caught. I mean, not to be braggy, but I went pretty fast for someone that wasn't a genin yet. Also, if I had any talents, my specialty would be the ability to sneak through a crowded place without being noticed.

* * *

I was sitting beside Sasuke, and no one realized that I just appeared.That is, until the mob of girls were onto me.They were all crowded around me, about to beat me up, when Iruka sensei walked in with Naruto tied up beside him. Sensei was giving him a lecture... well more likely yelling at him about his past failures in the graduation exams, when I stood up suddenly. I didn't know why I did, but I realized that I was embarrassing myself, with everyone staring at me.

"Eh, Kane-chan, you don't need to stand up for me. Ha ha!" Naruto said proudly.

I turned red in the face, boiling with anger at everyone. Especially Naruto. "WHO SAID I WAS STANDING UP FOR YOU? I WAS JUST STRETCHING!" After my tantrum, I slowly slid into my seat, getting lower and lower until you couldn't see my head.

"Alright then! For today's class we're having a review test on "Henge no Jutsu. Everyone line up, even those who passed!" Sensei yelled.

Like everyone else, I groaned. I wasn't good at transformation at all. Actually, I just never practiced, but in every way I didn't have the skill to do that. Sakura went first. She did it perfectly. I gota little jealous, seeing how she wasn't the best student, just another dork who's just smart. Then Sasuke went, of course, he was the genius of our school. I was a little tense about this review. Naruto's turn was next. He turned into a hot, nude girl, giving sensei a nosebleed. I fell to the floor laughing. I felt less tense about it, and had more courage and confidence.I suppose Naruto wasn't that bad. After other people went, finally it was my turn.

"Tensake Kaneshi, you're up!" announced sensei.

My insides squirmed. I felt squeezy. I took a long deep breath and put my hands in position. "Henge no jutsu!" _poof _I heard him say excellent. I poofed back and I looked at everyone feeling great. Only Naruto grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up.

* * *

I followed Naruto, to thank him, but I found him washing up his graffiti. To thank him, I decided to use my special skill. I stole a rag from one of the balconies, and zoomed up and down each of the hokages' faces. Not washing all of it, but to give Naruto less work. When I was done and made sure they didn't notice me at all, I went home and took a deep breath. I knew I did a good deed.

* * *

The next day, at school was graduation exams.It was the Bunshin no Jutsu test. I saw Naruto panicking. It was pretty obvious that, that was his worst skill. I ignored itand focused on passing the exam. I already failed it the first time. I wasn't about to fail it again. I was before Naruto this time.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" I divided into three. I smiled big and walked out. Outside I screamed, "Woot! I passed!"

We were let out early, due to our exams to meet our parents. I had no parents so I walked on to my house, when I heard some of the moms whispering about Naruto, the only one who failed. They were insulting him. I stopped and looked at him, sitting on that stupid swing.Maybe I was lying to myself, maybe I'm not his friend. But if I was, some friend I was. I couldn't take the gossiping anymore so I ran on home.

* * *

Later that day, I saw Naruto with Mizuki sensei on a balcony. I was glad that Mizuki sensei could do what I couldn't. Feeling better, I walked by.

* * *

I came back home from the ramen shop only to find that my keys were missing. I didn't want to bash the door open again, like I always do so I went to my quiet spot to sleep. It was really late at night when I was woken up by a rustling of leaves. It didn't sound like wind brushing against them. I got up quickly and had my shuriken at the ready. I looked up at the trees. I saw an orange blur and another chasing him.

'Naruto, can you ever get yourself out of trouble?' I thought as I quietly followed them. I lost sight of them, but I catched up with them again when I saw, not Naruto, but my sensei, who was very bloody, and Mizuki sensei facing each other. I caught my breath and hid behind a tree and saw the real Naruto a distance away from me, but watching the same thing. I was confused when I sensed a windmill shuriken coming at me. I quickly ducked and saw several branches fall. There was Naruto, fighting for sensei.

I didn't know what to do but run.

'Why do I always run?' I thought, while I was running home.


	2. Second Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 2  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...WAH**

**I'd like everyone to know that this is the one story that I've been working on for a long time heheheh**

**please review if you read it**

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The next day I heard about Naruto graduating in the end. I was really happy for him. I still didn't know what was going on last night, but it was over and I decided to ignore it.

I noticed Sakura and Ino fighting with each other over Sasuke in front of me. Soon a whole mob of girls were gathering and fighting over him. It got really annoying so I decided to move down to the front, when some guy made fun of me about yesterday. I turned around really slowly and glared at him. He got really scared and kept apologizing to me, but, ha, I can't take that. So I pushed him really hard and he bumped into Naruto.

I stared in horror at what I just did. Sasuke and Naruto were kissing! The class went quiet. I could tell all the girls were furious, especially Sakura. I just stood still in shock looking from Sakura to them and back. They were both spitting and trying to purify their mouths looking shameful. Naruto kept looking at Sakura and then the rest of the crowd. They were all cracking their knuckles, looking like they were about to have a massacre. I didn't know what to do so I started backing away. I gaped at the sight of them pummeling Naruto to the ground.

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"Starting today, you are all ninjas, but -"said sensei. Everyone was in their seat looking all pleasant and happy. I noticed that Sakura ended up sitting between Naruto and Sasuke. 

"You are all to be grouped in 3-man teams, and complete missions under watch of a jounin. But, in this case we have 28, so we will have one 4-man team. We've arranged the groups such that overall abilities are equivalent." I drifted out into space wondering what team I'll be in. Then sensei called my name.

"7th group. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Tensake Kaneshi." I realized that I was in the 4-man group. Knowing my other teammates' relationships, I knew I was going to have a hard time with them. I focused on listening to the other groups' names. After all, our group was bound to fight at least one of them. My friend, Hinata was with Kiba and Shino. I knew Shino had to be 2nd or 3rd strongest out of the class so I was relieved. Hinata was a really quiet and shy girl that lets herself be pushed around. Also Kiba was very outgoing and strong so he could take care of Hinata too.

I was thinking too much and missed the 9th group. The 10th group was Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. I didn't know much about them except that Ino was Sakura's rival yet her best friend. Shikamaru enjoyed playing strategy games and was very lazy. I didn't know what to think about Chouji. All I knew was that he manages to grab potato chips out of nowhere and eats them 24/7.

He was done announcing the groups. "I'm going to introduce the jounin teachers in the afternoon. Meeting adjourned until then!"

* * *

I wanted to eat lunch with Naruto and them. Learn something new about them. See what I can do to get along with them. I saw Sakura walking around. I was about to run over to her and invite her to eat lunch with me when -"Sasuke kun! Where are you? Sasuke kun!" I could tell she wanted to eat with him and only him. 

"Sakura chan! Let's eat together now that we're in the same group!" Looking to the left of Sakura I saw Naruto walking up.

"Why do I have to eat with you? How annoying!"

Naruto just stood there for a moment then he started walking very slowly. He was depressed. I was furious at Sakura. Who would think that Sakura had the rights to say that to Naruto? I ran up to him.

"NARUTO!" I called. "Let's eat together! We are on the same team after all!" I cried cheerfully.His face brightened up and said, "Sure!"

* * *

We were eating on top of an apartment complex. I kept looking at Naruto as we were eating. He didn't look so happy.

"Naruto, is something wrong?" I asked.

"This really sucks. I get to join the same team as Sakura and this happens. I wonder if anything nice will happen between her and me." I stared at the floor. 'So he likes Sakura that much...' I thought.

"Ah!" Naruto suddenly stood up and was focused on one thing. I looked at where he was apparently excited about. It was Sasuke at the window eating his lunch. It was a scary thought on what Naruto could've been thinking about at that moment. I turned to him, but he was gone. I looked back at Sasuke and there was Naruto edging along the wall to Sasuke.

"NARUTOOO!" I yelled. I didn't want them to fight on the first day they became a group. It was too late though. Naruto had already jumped in. I heard alot of shouts and yells.Then Sasuke jumped out the window. Naruto wasn't the best genin ever, but I knew Sasuke couldn't have come out of it without a scratch and then jump out of the window like that. First of all, it wasn't like him. Second of all, I expected better work than that from Naruto. After Sasuke left, I went to investigate.

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I entered the room to find Sasuke tied up. I took out my shuriken and cut the ropes. He shot a look at me. Then he left the room. I knew I shouldn't be hating on him already but my inner monster was bursting out. I strained to not say anything and bit my lip.

I waited until Iwas sure he was gone. I let out my breath and sighed in relief. I went to follow him.

* * *

While I followed him, I noticed a girl with pink hair sitting on a bench there, as if waiting for someone. She looked up.

"Sasuke-kun! You're such a shy guy! Are you emotionally prepared? I am!" she cried.

'What the hell is she talking about?' I thought. Naruto definitely did something and it wasn't good.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Changing the subject again! Forget about Naruto!" on and on she went about Naruto. I ignored all that until she got to the part about having no parents and what a shame it was. That Naruto was annoying and horrible because he had no parent breathing down his neck. My blood began to boil. I jumped off the tree with my shuriken aimed at her when Sasuke said, "Kaneshi! Stop. Let's go to class now." I stopped in midair and crashed down to the ground. 'How lucky is she'. I picked myself up calmly and smiled.

"Hi Sakura! We should've eaten lunch together! Well, maybe tomorrow then! See you in class!" I walked past her over to Sasuke, who was obviously waiting for me. I knew she'd be jealous like hell.

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**I suppose everyone should know that every single chapter is based on the anime. I only write about the episodes where Kaneshi can fit in. Other than that, have fun reading it!**


	3. Introductions

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 3  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...WAH**

**I'd like everyone to know that this is the one story that I've been working on for a long time heheheh**

**please review if you read it**

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"He's late." said Naruto while looking out the door.

"Naruto, why don't you sit still!" rebuked Sakura.

"But why is the teacher for our 7th group the only one late?" complained Naruto. "Everyone went somewhere already with their teachers. Even Iruka sensei went home!"

I was sitting at the very back relaxing. "Naruto, it doesn't really matter. The later he is, the more free time we get!" I said lazily.

"Naruto! What are you doing?" said Sakura and walked over to him. Sasuke turned his head quickly. Naruto was standing on a chair and lodging a board eraser between the door and the wall.

"I don't think he'll fall for that, Naruto." I said.

"Well, it's his fault for being late!" said Naruto proudly.

"It's your fault if you get in trouble." muttered Sakura.

I swear Iheard a little bit of pleasure in her voice. "A jounin isn't going to fall for a simple trick like that," said Sasuke.

I drifted off into space again and heard Sakura call Naruto stupid distinctly. When everyone fell quiet and looked at the door. We saw a hand there and our teacher poked his head in. _poof_ The eraser fell on his white hair.

Naruto was rejoicing over his succession of the prank. Sakura was trying to blame it on him.

"Hmm, how should I say this... My first impression of you guys are... I hate you." Sakura looked disappointed and so did everyone else. "Kaneshi, get down here." he called.

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He led us to the school roof, where he sat down on the edge and looked at us. 

"Let's see. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" said sensei.

"And how do we do that?" I replied.

"Yeah. How about you introduce yourself first, so we'll get the hang of it?" said Naruto.

"Me? Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi.I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... I have few hobbies." ended Kakashi sensei.

Sakura, with a sullen face, whispered, "We didn't learn anything but his name."

Naruto nodded in agreement. I have to say, he did make it seem long with so little information.

"So, how about you first?" said Kakashi sensei to Naruto.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen. But I like the ramen Iruka sensei buys me evenmore. I hate the 3 minute wait after you put the hot water in the cup. My hobby is to eat and compare ramens. And my dream is to be stronger than all the Hokages! I'm gonna make the villagers acknowledge my existence!" He said this while adjusting his forehead protecter the whole time.

'All he does is ramen ramen ramen. I wonder if he ever ate anything else.'

"Ok then, next."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like... the person I like... well..." she kept sideglancing at Sasuke while blushing. "My hobbies are... well my dreams are..." She squealed.

"And what do you hate?" asked Kakashi sensei.

"Naruto" she said bluntly.

"That was a bit straightforward don't ya think?" I said while pitying Naruto's shocked gaping face.

"And you?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are many things that I hate and not alot of things I like. Also I have an ambition that I have no intention on leaving just as a dream. The revival of my clan, and to kill a certain man." He said all this calmly and seriously. I looked at him with respect, while Naruto had a scared look on his face.

"Last person"

"I am Tensake Kaneshi. I like things that benefit me or at least satisfy me a little bit. I don't like things or people that bother me, don't go my way, or are just plain annoying that makes me want to kill them. I have no hobbies. My dream is to find who killed my mom, and the reason why they did." I sounded very cold. I didn't like this introduction session at all. I felt Kakashi sensei's gaze on me, as if he was studying me. I stared back at him.

He relaxed and closed his eyes, sighing. "Well then, you four all have unique personalities. I like that. We're going to have a mission starting tomorrow."

"What kind of mission is that!" shouted Naruto very enthusiastically.

"It's something us five can all do. Survival training." replied Kakashi sensei.

"Survival training?" Me and Naruto both asked.

Sakura started complaining about this when Kakashi sensei started laughing. Personally, it sounded maniacal to me.

"You guys are going to be surprised when you hear this. Out of the 28 students that graduated, only 9 or 10 can become genins. The rest will go back to the academy.In other words, this is going to be a hard test with a dropout rateof around 66 percent."

This hit me really hard. So was the graduation exam useless then? That left me thinking that school was pointless if this was where it brought me to. Of course Naruto answered my questions with his own nonstop surprised questions.

'So, the graduation exam was to help pick out the ones qualified to even be a genin.' I thought. I looked around at everyone. They seemed just as surprised as me. Well, I can't tell about Sasuke, but I'll assume he was surprised too.

"I will decide if you pass or not on the training grounds tomorrow! Bring your ninja equipment at 5:00 AM. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up if you do." said Kakashi sensei as he walked off.

* * *

I woke up at 6:00 in the morning. I bought some ramen at the ramen shop and ate it. I dont care what sensei said. If I'm going to throw up, then I might as well do that. Then I bought an apple on my way there. I was a little late, munching on my apple. Sakura looked at me with disgust. She went all blahblahblah on me and what sensei said. I gave her a look that said, "Do I look like I care?" That shut her up. Besides, sensei wasn't there. 

"Ohayo everyone." I said. The sun was high in the sky already. "So where's sensei?"

* * *

"Hi fellows. Ohayo." said sensei behind me. 

"YOU'RE LATE!" screamed Naruto and Sakura. I sighed and sat on a stump. He started giving some lame excuse but he stopped halfway to our glares. It got me giggling. Sensei threw a shuriken at me, which grazed my skin. Somehow I followed my instincts and did the dumbest thing. I caught it with my hand. Blood was dripping down my arm. I put the shuriken in my pouch.

"Oh, nice catch. But I don't think you'd want to do that again unless your life was on the line. Anyway, this training is no laughing matter. This will decide if you are capable of becoming a genin! Anyhow, this alarm clock is set at 12:00." he brought out three bells. "Today's topic is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't, wont get any lunch. I'll tie you to that pole and eat lunch in front of you.

'Well I'm not hungry anyway' I thought as I looked at the others' faces. They looked hungry and tired. It was not gonna be a good day for them.

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**I wrote this much for only half of a show**

**WUH OH!**


	4. Survival Training

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 4  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Me: eh... i dont like disclaimer duty  
the dunce: why is my name the dunce? what's up with that? are you saying you dont like me?  
Me: no you dunce, its just obvious that you're a dunce so shut up  
the dunce: and what's a disclaimer  
Me: See? that's what makes you a dunce heheheheheh**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! IF I DID I"D BE SPENDIN MONEY AT THE MALL RIGHT NOW!**

**the dunce: Oh...so that's what a dunce is...  
Me: ... that's a disclaimer you dunce  
the dunce: lol typo gomen!**

**(Yes, I know, he's older than me but somehow I got the intelligent side of the family)  
ATTENTION! my brother helped me with this chapter since he was bored so please dont charge me with arrows if it's not so good! hehehe**

**the dunce: SHUT IT! I'M A BETTER WRITER THAN YOU!  
Me: ... _rolls eyes_ that's what he'd like to say...**

**Oh! and I give thanks to faridaquant yay! we bow down to faridaquant for first review! _pokes the dunce_ bow down to faridaquant you dunce**

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"Ready, START!" said Kakashi sensei. We all jumped to a different place. Everyone was hidden. I closed my eyes and focused on the different chakras. I sensed Naruto's first. His chakra power was amazing. But then again... he was right there in everyone's view. The inner me sweatdropped and fell to the floor. I could tell Kakashi sensei was dumbfounded. I laughed out loud. I quickly realized my mistake and moved quickly to a different location.

I watched Naruto run at Kakashi sensei, then suddenly stop. Sensei was reaching for something in his weapons' pouch.

"Ninja tactic know-how one. Taijutsu. I'll teach you that first." I was anticipating a weapon, but he swiped out an orange book. An orange book with the title "Flirting Paradise". I fell out of the tree and landed facedown. With my nose bleeding, I shook my fist at sensei and screamed, "KAKASHI SENSEI! IS THIS TRAINING OR JUST ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOU?"

"Ah, Kaneshi! You've revealed yourself. The basic technique for a shinobi is the ability to stay hidden. I believe you just failed that, like Naruto did here."

Naruto got out of his shocked and appalledness and charged at him. I got up and watched. If he said I failed to stay hidden I don't see why I should go hide again. Naruto wasn't doing any good when Kakashi sensei suddenly appeared crouching behind him. His hands were in the form of the seal of the tiger. 'What is he going to do?' I thought.

"Naruto run! You're going to die!" I heard Sakura scream.

"Huh?" said Naruto. He looked puzzled and confused.

"Too late. This is a high taijutsu technique of Konoha. A THOUSAND YEARS OF PAIN!" and Naruto flew away screaming in pain.

I was laughing my head off again. I just might like this sensei. Then I realized that this was my chance to attack him. It was, until two weaponscame flying outof the water and Kakashi sensei caught them. Naruto jumped out of the water and attacked Kakashi sensei again. He used Kage no Bunshin. But... they weren't just duplications... they were shadow clones! I didn't know that Naruto could do that. Naruto actually got him from the back. I watched with a whole lot of surprise,then Naruto punched himself. Kakashi sensei had disappeared. Naruto and his clones were fighting amongst themselves while I looked for sensei. Naruto was being a dunce.

"NA RU TO! SENSEI USED THE REPLACEMENT TECHNIQUE!" I yelled at him, but that was too late since Naruto beat up his clones and looked pretty beaten up himself.

I spotted a glimpse of metal. It was a bell! I thought hard on this in the form of chibi characters.  
So, if Kakashi sensei was really in a hurry and dumb enough to drop a bell like that, then I'd be pretty disappointed. But if Kakashi sensei dropped it on purpose... then... it has to be a trap! and at that moment Naruto was dangling from the tree, with his feet tied by a rope. I threwa shuriken to cut it, and Naruto dropped down.

"YES!" I yelled. Suddenly Naruto was dangling again. I sweatdropped and fell to the ground. Getting back up I figured that it was 2 traps. Maybe if someone else went after the bell seeing that the first trap was already played. I ran over to him, and cut him down again. When I turned around for the bell, Kakashi sensei had already picked it up.

"Don't fall for an obvious trap like that, baka. Ninjas need to think beyond the normal." said Kakashi calmly.

"I ALREADY KNOW THAT!" yelled Naruto.

"I'm telling you this because it's obvious you don't. You should thank Kaneshi for helping you."

"Naruto, use your shadow clones again. But this time, the real you doesn't attack. Surround him and attack him at the same time. Got it?" I muttered to Naruto.

"Got it!" He got in position, when 6 shuriken were flying towards Kakashi sensei.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" I yelled as I jumped in front of him.

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**Eh, my brother ditched me for his friend. heh heh heh**

**Thank you for reading this! XD I love you all!**

**Such a cliffhanger ey?**


	5. Fifth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 5  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto and I never will**

**Hello everyone. I decided that having just a disclaimer up here get's kinda boring. So. ... I guess this is why I only had a disclaimer up here. what to say what to say... it's raining? **

**Reviewers: bzzz soho. shorti, buttons413**

**THANK YOU! YAY YAY YAY i'm sorry you only have 1 bower. the dunce isnt here yet. heh heh heh well THANK YOU!**

**uhhh BACK TO THE STORY! XD**

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Kakashi sensei pushed me away and got hit.

"AAH SASUKE OVERDID IT! HE GOT HIT!" screamed Naruto. _poof _

'So he used the replacement technique again...' I saw a lot of rustling in the woods. 'Sasuke must be running.' I wondered where Kakashi sensei could be. I looked around when suddenly I heard Sakura scream. I quickly clasped my hands together and closed my eyes. I focused on sensing Sakura's chakra. I heard her scream again.

I was getting scared. I was all alone with a dipwad who falls for obvious traps, and one of my team mates is screaming like she's about to die. 'Calm down, calm yourself. He's your sensei, he wouldn't kill his students.' I turned the other way and went into running mode. I was about to run when Naruto caught hold of me.

"Kaneshi, it's ok. He's our sensei, right?" It was nice to hear that from Naruto.At least hemanaged tostop me when I couldn't.He leaned on a tree, looking everywhere.He started running. I didn't bother following him, because I was too tired. Ok, ok,I didn't do much, but I get tired easily. Sitting down, I watched the clouds. 'Maybe I should become friends with Shikamaru...' I heard Sasuke scream now.

* * *

I jumped up. Kakashi was tying Naruto to the pole and Sasuke and Sakura were sitting down looking disappointed. Thealarm was ringing too. I ran over and sat down too.

"Your stomachs must be growling eh? About the results of this training, none of you have to return to the academy."

Naruto gasped out of joy. Sakura looked puzzled. Then she started doing some kind of victory dance.

"Hold on. Does that mean...?" I started.

"Yeah, youfour ... should quit being ninjas!" yelled Kakashi sensei.

I fell back to the ground. 'Is he being serious?' I stared at the sky, fighting back tears. Naruto was complaining again with his annoying questions. I wanted to scream at him and say shut up, but sensei was talking now.

"It's because youfour are kids who donteven deserve to be ninjas."

Sasuke jumped up and charged at him.

I got back up quickly and yelled, "SASUKE!"

Kakashi sensei stood calmly and then in a flash took down Sasuke and was sitting on him. Sakura was freaking out like always. I laid back down while sensei was explaining everything. I didn't want to hear it. I had tears in my eyes now. 'Why the fuck did sensei fail us? Like he said, we're not even genins! What does he want us to be like? Jounins? First of all we didn't even have the talent to work together.' I was back upin an instant.

"Why do you think they broke you guys up into groups of three and four?" Kakashi was saying.

"Teamwork..." I gasped. "It's teamwork! We need to learn to cooperate with each other and work together to succeed in a mission!" I was yelling now.

Everyone stared at me. "That's right. If all four of you came at me at once, then1 of you could've gotten a bell." Kakashih sensei said.

"But you only have 3! One of us would have to bite for the rest to pass!" I was yelling again. Sakura was backing me up.

"This test puts you four against each other. Those who pass prioritize their team ahead of themselves. But all of you were pathetic! Sakura! You cared more for Sasuke than Naruto, who was right in front of you, and you didnt know where Sasuke was. Naruto! You tried to do everything yourself! Sasuke! You believed that the otherthree would just burden you and tried to do it yourself. And Kaneshi! Yes, you did help Naruto, but did you try to help Sakura and Sasuke when you heard them scream? What Naruto was in wasn't a problem at all!"

* * *

I laid back down again. 'Why do I keep lying on the ground? Ugh, I'm too lazy! and Kakashi sensei is right. We're pathetic losers that don't know the meaning of team. I even tried to run away...' I heard Sakura and Naruto gasp. 'What did he say now?' 

"...Is Kaneshi awake? Kaneshi! Are you listening to me?" I got up again.

"To TELL YOU THE TRUTH, NO I WASN'T! NOW BACK OFF!"

Kakashi sensei pushed me to another pole beside Naruto and tied me up too. He turned around and walk to the big blue diamond shaped stone.

"Do you see this? The numerous names carved into this stone? They're all praised as heroes in this village." Naruto was wriggling with joy now.

"I like that. I like that! I've decided I'm going to have my name carved into that! A hero, a hero! I'm not gonna die a useless death!"

"These are not normal heroes... They are K.I.A."

"K.I.A.?" asked Naruto, with a huge grin on his face.

"Killed in action, Naruto." whispered Sakura.

His grin was wiped off.

"This is a cenotaph. The names of my friends are carved in this as well." He turned around. "I'll give you another chance. But it will be harsher after lunch. Only if you're up to the challenge stay. Oh, and don't let Naruto or Kaneshi eat anything. That's what they get for trying to steal the lunches and not paying attention to me."

I sighed. I wasn't that hungry anyway, but Naruto's stomach growled so loud it made me grimace. He was freaking off saying he wasn't hungry while his stomach kept getting louder and louder.

"Here, eat this" said Sasuke. I stared at him in amazement. He was offering Naruto his own lunch!

"Sasuke!" rebuked Sakura. "Sensei told us not to!"

"Don't worry,I don't sense him anywhere near. Besides, after lunch we're going to work together and take the bells from him. It'll only be troublesome with Naruto's hungry stomach."

Sakura got up and walked over to me. "Here you go Kaneshi! You can eat mine!"

I sweatdropped. I knew she was just saying this for Sasuke. I smiled and said nicely, "That's ok. I had a big breakfast and I'm not hungry yet either."

"Oh..." she walked back over to Naruto, "Here, then you eat it! Hurry, before sensei comes back!"

"Sakura... I can't eat it.. because you know..." he wriggled his hands.

Her face went into shock.

"Hurry! We don't know when he's coming back!" warned Sasuke.

"Ok! Fine! Just this once!"

Naruto grinned a huge grin and opened his mouth.

'Boy, does he have a big mouth...' he ate it.

**_POOF!_** "YOU FOUR!"

* * *

**hehehe**

**I love Kakashi!**


	6. Our OFFICIAL Team

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 6  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**eh... I had the entire chapter done but I accidentally pressed a random button and now its gone. All that work**

**ToT**

**RESTART!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I wish I did... Who wrote Naruto anyway?...**

**The dunce told me to tell you people to not call your brothers the dunce. Oh wait, here he is...**

**A WORD FROM THE DUNCE!**

**I will advise you not to call the sisters out there to not call your brother a dunce, because I am recruiting those brothers called dunces and TAKING OVER THE WORLD! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHa ilk,ujm7ny ow she slammed my head into the keyboard...now she's laughing her head off... damn her...**

**hehe i hit him and i dont appreciate what he wrote about me GRRRR well he left so its just me and the computer!**

**

* * *

**"You three broke my rules! Are you ready for your punishment!" yelled Kakashi sensei. He performed a seal, gathering huge, dark thunderclouds. "Any last words?" 

I was shaking in fear. If he could make Sasuke scream... I didn't want to know what he would do to us. I closed my eyes tightly. Sakura was screaming.

"But, but, but! You said...That's why these two!" Naruto shouted.

"We are a four man team, right?" said Sasuke calmly.

"Yeah!Us four are one!" said Sakura.

What they were saying dawned upon me. "They're right! You said all that stuff about teamwork and helping each other! We were helping each other just now! And like Sakura said!Us four are one!" I yelled.

"You four are one, eh?" He came closer, with a freaky angry face. Suddenly, he smiled. "You pass!"

"Huh?" said Naruto. I was confused as well.

"You passed."

'YES WE PASSED! GOD I SHOULD HATE MYSELF FOR DOUBTING THE TEAM!' There was a party in my head.

"Youfour are the first. People I had previously were blockheads who just listened to what I said. 'Ninjas need to think beyond the normal' Those who break the rules are called scum. But those were dont take care of their friends or teammates dont even deserve to live."

"He's... He's kind of cool." said Naruto with his voice breaking up. I looked at everyone in a new view. We were now an official team!

"Training ends here! Everyone passes! The 7th group will start missions tomorrow!" He gave us an abnormally large thumbs up. "You can all go home now."

Sakura and Sasuke got up and followed Kakashi sensei back to the village.

"I KNEW it would end this way!" shouted Naruto while squirming in his ropes. "UNTIE THE FREAKIN ROPE!"

I laughed my head off and jumped out of the ropes. "Say, Naruto! This was in basic training! The ability to escape when you're tied up as hostage!" then I walked home.

* * *

I was running through the forest. I stopped at my appointed spot. Naruto was late. "This is Kaneshi, arrived at Point D." I waited. 

"This is Naruto, arrived at Point A."

"You're slow, Naruto. Ok, team 7. The target has moved!" I looked up and around. I saw a black blur move. "After it!"

It landed in a bush. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto peeked out from their spot.I came out. "Ok, it's right there." I said.

"Where?"

"There, Naruto, you dipwad."

We all moved quickly, surrounding the bush.

"What's the distance to the target?"

"5 meters. I'm ready to go!"

"I am too."

"Me too."

"I am too."

"Ok. ... Go!"

I saw nothing but blurs, then a red ribbon. A horrible yowling started coming out of it.

"Does it have a ribbon in its right ear? Is it our target, Tora?"

"It's the target for sure." I watched Naruto handling our target. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Okay! Mission: Capture the Lost Pet succeeded!"

"ISN'T THERE A MORE EXCITING MISSION WE CAN DO?"

I covered my ears. 'Ugh, the feedback is horrible.'

* * *

I squatted down on the floor. There was a thorn in my leg.The fat lady, Madam Shijimi, was making a ruckus over her cat. I could see why her pet ran away. 

"Now then," I looked up. " Kakashi's 7th unit's next mission is... babysitting Yojyu sama's boy. Grocery shopping at the next town. Help digging up potatoes at - "

I sweatdropped. Being a genin wasn't fun at all. I made a pouty face.

"NOO! No thanks to all of those!" said Naruto making an X sign. "I want to do a more exciting mission! Choose something else!" I nodded in agreement.

"Baka! You're still a novice ninja! You have to do these missions to gain experience!" yelled Iruka sensei.

"But.. but! We've only been doing dumb missions lately!" Kakashi sensei knocked him down. My chibi self raised a sign saying "K.O.!"

"Cut it out!" said Kakashi sensei.

"Naruto! It looks like I need to explain what these missions are!" said the Hokage.

'Oh great. Another explanatory lecture for the dipwad.' I concentrated on getting the thorn. When it was out, I took out a bandage from my pouch and stuck it on there.

* * *

"I had tankotsu ramen yesterday, so I'm going to eat a miso ramen today." I nodded my head in agreement. 

"Same place?" I asked.

"Like always."

"LISTEN!" yelled the Hokage.

"I'm so sorry." Kakashi sensei said, rubbing his head.

Naruto turned around. "You always lecture me like that pops. But I'm not the kid who used to pull pranks anymore! HMPH!" He turned around again.

My face was burning from using all my energy to keep my laughter in. Kakashi sensei was rubbing his head again.

"Okay, I understand." said the Hokage.

My laughter disappeared. I stared at the Hokage. 'Is he being serious?'

"If you really want it, I will give you a C ranked mission. It's to escort a certain person."

I fell to the ground. 'Ehh, this doesn't sound exciting at all!' But Naruto was already excited over it. Again with his nonstop questions.

"Can you please come in now!"

"WHAT? They're just a bunch of kids!"


	7. Country of the Wave Arc Begins

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 7  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Hahaha I got on before my brother! Yes! So, anyways...**

**DISCLAIMER: FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL! I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!**

**oh no... the dunce is waking up... **

**EVERYBODY RUN!**

**Oh ya, I thought I should describe what Kaneshi looks like. He he he. OK: She has long golden hair, tied with a piece of string at the end. She has eyes the same color as her hair, except it looks more faded. She wears a long length, short sleevedblack jacket, with 3 red dots on the back (dots shaped like the ones on the sharingan eyes). Her forehead protecter is tied on her neck. She doesn't wear any shoes, and has a fishnet starting from her left knee and down. Her shirt is white and sky blue. She wears red capri style pants.**

**Yes, I had the time to think about this and try to draw it. Hehehe.**

**

* * *

**

I looked at the doorway. There was an old man drinking alot of beer.

He leaned against the wall. "Hey, is the smallest one there, with the idiotic face really a ninja?"

"Ahaha! Who's the smallest one with the idiotic face?" laughed Naruto.

They moved closer to him. "You are... baka." I whispered.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" screamed Naruto while Kakashi sensei was holding him back. "Don't kill the man we're supposed to escort! BAKA!"

* * *

We were at the gates of Konoha. Naruto was jumping around, looking everywhere with excitement. 

"Nani? What are you getting all excited for?" asked Sakura with disgust.

"I've never left the village before!" he said.

I watched the clouds, again, lolling about in the sky. 'So he never left this village...' I remember when we firstcame here.

_"Daddy! I can see Konoha from way up here!" I yelled, at the top of a tree.  
__"Haha, really? Well come back down! You have to guide me and be my eyes!" my father yelled back._

Tazana, our client, was doubting Naruto. I walked ahead, while Kakashi sensei was reassuring him. Naruto was up and at it again. About him becoming Hokage, and the elite ninja, blahblahblah. I drifted off. 'I wonder what it's like in the Country of the Wave... Is it any different from here?'

"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto screamed.

"Stop it, baka!" Kakashi sensei was holding him back again.

I sighed. This was how it was gonna be for the next few days. Something caught my eye. The leaves were moving for second... on a windless day. I saw a tiny black blur. 'It must be a squirrel or something.'

* * *

"Hey, Tazana san..." went Sakura.

"What is it?" asked Tazana san, gruffly.

"You're from the Country of the Wave, right?" she said.

"What about it?" he asked, just as gruffly.

"Kakashi sensei, are there also any ninjas in the Country of the Wave?"

"No, there are no ninjas in that country. But while the culture and customs of other coun -"

'Great. Sakura just started another lecture.' I sighed again and focused on the road ahead.

* * *

"Oy," I stopped walking. "You all just doubted the Hokage, didn't you?" Kakashi sensei asked. 

I had no idea what he was talking about. Sakura and Naruto were shaking their heads like crazy. 'Hokage? Doubting him? What's there to doubt?' I thought. 'What were they talking about? I have to pay more attention from now on.' Sensei was telling Sakura to not worry about meeting any foreign ninjas.

We crossed a bridge. Soon after that I saw a puddle on the road. 'Must be from the creek, but who would go in there?' I heard a rush.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" screamed Sakura. I turned around quickly. Kakashi sensei was tightly surrounded by spiked chains. Then he burst. I screamed. They moved behind Naruto.

"NARUTO MOVE!" I yelled. Naruto looked behind him. Iwas runningto him, when Sasuke jumped ahead and stopped them. He kicked their heads and broke off their chains. I gasped. This wasn't a total surprise, after all, Sasuke was a genius.They started to move again. "SAKURA! PROTECT TAZANA SAN!"

* * *

I ran over and bumped him, right when Sasuke got in front of Sakura. The ninja moaned and there was Kakashi that caught him by the neck.

"Kakashi sensei!" I yelled joyfully. Naruto, who was on the ground, looked up in surprise. Sakura was really happy. However, Sasuke on the other hand, looked at him in disappointment.

"Yo." Sensei said. I looked over to where Kakashi sensei supposedly died. 'He used the replacement technique again.'

"Naruto, I'm sorry for not helping right away. You got hurt. I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move. Anyway, Sasuke, good job. Sakura and Kaneshi, you too."

Tazana san looked very relieved. I was relieved too.

"SASUKE!" I jumped in surprise.

"NARUTO!" yelled Kakashi sensei. "There's poison on these guys' nails. We need to take out the poison right away. We have to open up your wound and leech out the poisoned blood. Don't move so much, or the poison will spread through your body."

* * *

'So they're ninjas from the Hidden Village of the Mist...' They were tied up against a tree.

"How were you able to detect our action?" one of them asked.

"It hasn't rained for the past few days, and today is sunny, so there was no reason for a water puddle to exist."

'So that's what that puddle was. I'm so dumb to not think of that.' I hit myself on the head. I looked at the ninjas. They were creepy looking, with masks and black suit.


	8. Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 8  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**DISCLAIMER! i still dont own Naruto... hehe**

**So late at night... MUST KEEP WATCHING NARUTO! and write! heh heh heh**

**diiifffiiiiccccuuuullllltttt well so i was eating bugles when the dunce came in and pushed me off my chair and made me choke on my bugle but then i gave myself a heimlich and the dunce's friend thought i was doin something extremely weird so i attacked both of them with pillows until they ran out of the house onto their golfcart. yes that is the life of me and my family.**

**hehehe ive been calling all those little sharp throwing knifey stuff shuriken. i learned that some are called KUNAI so uhhh... i hope you know what i mean when i say shuriken so...ya... gonna keep on with the shuriken! whoo!**

**

* * *

**

I scratched my head. I shouldn't have hit myself so hard. 'Ugh, now I have a headache.'

"This mission is out of our league! Let's quit! We need anesthesia to take out the poison blood from Naruto too. We need to go back to the village and see a doctor!" said Sakura earnestly.

My heart died on me when I heard that. "WHAT? JUST QUIT? BAKA!" I screamed at her.

"This sure is a burden. Let's go back to the village to cure Naruto." remarked Kakashi sensei.

I gave him a glare and stomped off. "Sure! Sure! Just ditch our client! I'm sure everyone would be supportive of that!" I said coldly, waving my arms in the air. I heard the gliding noise of a shuriken. Looking back, I saw Naruto aiming it at his hand. "NARUTO!" Blood came spilling out.

"Why am I so different? Why am I always ... Damn it!" yelled Naruto

"Naruto! What are you doing!" asked Sakura.

"I should be stronger... I've accomplished lots of missions and I've practiced techniques every day... I'm never going to do something where I need someone to help me. I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things. I'm not going to lose to Sasuke!" I took a glance at Sasuke. "I vow by the pain in my right hand. I'm going to protect the old man with this kunai. The mission is still on!" declared Naruto.

He looked so determined and bold, I almost clapped for him. Well, there was a roaring audience in my mind.

"Naruto, it's nice that you took the poisoned blood out so spiritedly, but... you're going to die from loss of blood if anymore comes out." said Kakashi sensei.

There was silence. 'Wow, Naruto's taking that very nicely and calmly.'

"No, seriously. It's not good if you lose anymore." he said, closer to him. Naruto started freaking out like a maniac, screaming, "NO NO NO NO NO I CANT DIE LIKE THIS!"now. I sweatdropped and fell to the ground.

"Naruto, you have a self-abusing personality. That's called masochism you know." said Sakura.

When his hand was all bandaged up, I went over to him. "Naruto! I loved your speech! and besides, you saved our mission, right? Number one priority: Mission succession no matter what!" I gave him a quick hug.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter is so short**

**hehehe**


	9. Ninth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 9  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**HOHOHOHO One of my favorite character's stories are about to begin.**

**Disclaimer: I LIKE SO DO NOT OWN NARUTO! Dear Santy Claus...**

**It's like around midnight and i should so sleep but...im not sleep oh wait... its almost 2 in the morning**

**O.O cant sleep must write**

**and another thing**

**I KEEP FINDING MISTAKES PEOPLE! AAH ok so the bridge builder/their client's name is Tazuna. I kept calling him Tazana. hehe sorry!**

**

* * *

**

It's really cloudy today. Foggy too.We were riding a boat down the river. Everything seemed suspicious, and everyone looked very cautious. I stared at Naruto, sitting in the front. Today was not going to be a good day.

* * *

"We should be able to see the bridge soon. If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be at the Country of the Wave." said our driver. 

I looked up at the bridge ahead of us. It was definitely in construction.

"IT'S HUGE!" shouted Naruto.

"Hey, be quiet!" warned the driver. "We're using this boat and hiding in the mist. That's why I'm rowing instead of using the motor. In other words, if we get caught, we'll be in trouble."

'Caught, trouble? Is there a problem with us being here?' I looked at Tazuna san, questioningly.

"It looks like I have to tell you the real story." said Tazuna san. "I mean, I would like for you to hear my story. As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. An extremely terrible man is after my life."

"An extremely terrible man? Who is it?" asked Kakashi sensei.

"You all should've at least heard of his name. Marine transportation billionaire Gatoh."

"Gatoh? You mean from the Gatoh Company? He's one of the richest men in the world!"

"Nani? Who's that?" Naruto asked.

I wanted to know too. I never heard of a billionaire named Gatoh. Names of rich men was a category that I knew nothing of.

"Yes, he is the president of a marine transportation company on the outside..." he went on. "but underground, he uses gangs and ninjas to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries. A year ago, he set his sights on the Country of the Wave. He entered this country using violence and wealth as his shield and he quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. On an island like the Country of the Wave, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics, and people of this island. And the one thing Gatoh is afraid of ... is the completion of the bridge that has been under construction for quite some time."

"I see, so you as the bridge builder, is an obstacle to him." said Sakura.

"So then, he's the one who sent those ninjas." said Sasuke.

"I don't understand. He's a dangerous man who uses ninjas.Why did you hide that fact when you came to us?"

"The Country of the Wave is a really poor country. Even the feudal lord does not have much money. We don't have the money to request for an expensive B rank or above mission. If you quit your mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure. While I go home... But there's no need to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry and cry and cry some more!"

I sweatdropped. 'Eh, is he trying to make us pity him? and this old geezer talks alot too.' He went on about his daughter, who will have a grudge against us and live a lonely life. Us five looked at each other. This guy was REALLY pathetic.

"I guess it can't be helped. We'll have to continue escorting you." said Kakashi sensei.

I could've sworn that that geezer made the victory sign.

* * *

"Tazuna, it looks like we haven't been noticed yet." said the driver. 

We went through a long, dark tunnel. The light was getting nearer.

* * *

On the other side, it seemed as if all the darkness just stopped right there. Everything was bright and sunny, and you could hear the seagulls. We were on port now. I was second to last, getting off the boat. 

"Oohh! You! with the long jacket! I see you don't wear any shoes! Did yours break, or they're too old and you can't afford a new one?" exclaimed Tazuna san.

I looked down at my feet. They were dirty with many healing cuts, and blotches of mud here and there. "I have my own reasons for not wearing shoes. I don't see why you should care." I replied back.

Tazuna san and the driver said their farewells, and our driver drove off. This time, with the motor running.

"All right! Now take me home safely." said Tazuna san. We continued on our way.

* * *

Our group was in the front. Naruto leading us. I saw Sasuke starting to walk just a slightly bit more faster. He was at the same level as Naruto now. Naruto started running while westopped in surprise. He looked around. Suddenly he threw his shuriken at a bush. My mouth dropped out of my shocked and appalledness. 

"Oh, it was just a mouse." stated Naruto.

"Stop showing off! There was nothing there!" yelled Sakura, pointing at him.

"Please Naruto. Don't use your shuriken so abusively!" pleaded Kakashi sensei. "It's dangerous in the first place!"

"HEY, YOU DWARF! DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT!" screamed Tazuna san. I twirled away in fear. 'He's showing Max Anger!'

Naruto was still playing around... or showing off. Whichever one it was, it wasn't funny or impressing us. He threw another shuriken at another bush.

Sakura punched his head. "I told you to stop!"

He covered his head in pain. "But I really did sense someone in the bushes!" While Sakura and him were fighting Kakashi sensei went to check it out. Sakura joined him shortly.

"NARUTO! LOOKAT WHAT YOU DID!" she screamed.

"Ah! Rabbit!" he ran over to it and cuddled it. "Gomen! I didn't mean to!"

I closed my mouth and dropped to the ground. 'I can't take the suspense and tension in this mission anymore!'


	10. Tenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 10  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**i eating chocolate ice cream right now. my friend is sharing this account with me now, so if you see any randomness or extremely retarded yet funny stuff in these stories... it was all her... hehehe**

**of course, im the better writer**

**let's just hope she doesnt get offended by any of this stuff**

**so DISCLAIMER: i dont own naruto YET.. if i only had the money...**

**so back to da story then!**

**

* * *

**

"Everyone duck!" shouted Kakashi sensei.

I gasped. I was already on the ground, so I didn't. A sword went flying over us. It ended up on a tree. There was someone standing on there.

"Oh, my, my, Momochi Zabuza, the exiled ninja of the Hidden Village of the Mist." said Kakashi sensei.

Naruto charged at him, when Kakashi sensei stopped him.

"You're in the way. Stay back, everyone."

I had no problem with that. I scurried off to a bush.

"Nande!" asked Naruto.

"This guy is way different than the ones we met before."

I looked at him. He sure had the scary and creepier appearance. But, he didn't look so mean or bad. Kakashi reached for his forehead protector. His hand was on it.

"I'm guessing you are Kakashi, the sharingan user." said Zabazu.

'What? The sharingan?'

_"Those eyes of yours are very special, Kaneshi. They can use a technique called Sharingan..." _

Sasuke had the astonished look on his face too. 'What does the sharingan do anyway?' I thought. I was told by my father that I had it, but he never told me how to use it, or what it could do.

"I'm sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer." Ok, I take the 'he didn't look so mean or bad' back. He turned his head so we could see his whole face.

"Everyone, form the swastika formation." said Kakashi sensei. He seemed so controlled. Something that didn't come easy to me. I hesitated. "Protect Tazuna san. Don't join the battle."

"Eh?" said Sakura.

"To not interfere with the battle, is teamwork." To me, that didn't make any sense at all, but I listened to him and went into formation. "Fight me..." He had lifted his protector up all the way.

"Oh, I'm honored that I get to see the Sharingan that I've heard so much about." said Zabuza.

"You guys keep saying Sharingan, Sharingan! What is it?" asked Naruto. Like always, he asked the question I wanted to ask.

"Sharingan, the eye creates it and it is the power that the pupil generates. Ones who use doujutsu are said to have eye techniques that can see through all genjutsus, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and cancel their effects. Sharingan are one of the various types of eyes that doujutsu users possess. But that's not the only ability Sharingan has." said Sasuke.

"Correct. That isn't all it can do. The scary part is that the Sharingan can understand how an opponents' attack works and copies it." 'I can do all that? Why didn't my Dad teach me these things?' I gazed at him in wonder. "When I was in the Hidden Village of Mist's assassination squad... your information was listed in the bingo book I carried around, asking for your capture. It also listed this. The man who copied over 1000 techniques, Kakashi the copy ninja."

"Wow!" cheered Naruto.

"Naruto! This isn't the time to be cheering for Kakashi sensei!" I said.

"Let's cut the chit chat here. I have to kill the geezer right away." He crouched down. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke immediately joined beside me in our formation. "But Kakashi, it seems that I have to fight you first." He moved down fast. He was standing on the water, when he disappeared. Everything became misty and foggy.

"He'll try to kill me first, but..."

"Who is he?" asked Sakura.

"Momochi Zabuza, he was one of the Hidden Village of Mist's ANBU. He's known for his 'silent killing' techniques." I was trembling with fear now. "It's possible that you might be dead before you realize it." I was trembling uncontrollably. "So don't let your guard down." My trembling stopped. He's right. If I let my guard down, first I might die, second the mission could end up as a failure. "But if you fail, you're only going to die." He sounded like he didn't care about the failing consequences.

"You're so carefree...! " said Sakura

* * *

"The mist is getting thicker!" exclaimed Naruto. He was right. It was getting denser and denser. 

"The Country of the Wave is surrounded by ocean, so a mist often emerges." said Tazuna san.

Kakashi sensei disappeared in the thick mist.

"Eight points."

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

A voice started naming body parts. 'Body parts? What the hell is he talking about?'

"Now which vital organ do you want to get struck at?" said Zabazu.

I took a sharp breath. I stepped back a little. There was a blast of enormous chakra. The mist was dissolving away.

"Sasuke! Don't worry, I'll protect the four of you with my life. I wont let anyone on my team die." said Kakashi sensei.

I looked over at Sasuke. 'Sasuke... what was he doing?'

"I wouldn't say that." someone was behind me. I stepped back and bumped into that someone. Turning around, I screamed. 'Since when did he get there? Oh god, we're all going to die!' I was trembling again. Kakashi sensei swiftly got him with a shuriken. Water was dripping down his hand. 'Water? A water clone?'

"Sensei! Behind you!" warned Naruto.

"Die!" screamed Zabazu while he swung his sword at him. I stared in horror as Kakashi sensei was sliced in half. Water bursted everywhere. 'Him too? Did he copy Zabazu's technique?'

"Don't move... " Kakashi sensei had a shuriken at his neck. I sighed in relief. Kakashi sensei was better than I thought him for. "This is the end."


	11. Eleventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 11  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I seriously wanna be a famous author someday. But my dear encouraging friend, Mina, is HOLDING ME BACK! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO im just playin Mina don't hurt me hehe**

**Disclaimer: Still not owning Naruto.Pooey.**

**today: some random guy came knocking on my door and told me that he ran out toilet paper and he needed to either borrow some or use my toilet. that wasnt gonna happen so i slammed the door on him. i dont think he was being serious tho since he was laughing his head off while he was asking me and his friends were like obviously in front of my house on a golfcart. P - A - T - H - E - T - I - C anyhoo...**

**hehehe sorry if in this chapter kaneshi might seem like a supergirl or somethin**

**she kinda did to me, but i worked hard on writing this so - no flames!**

**

* * *

**

Zabuza started laughing, which startled me. He was on the brink of life or death yet he could still laugh it off.

"Is this the end? You just don't get it. You can't defeat me with your indiscriminate imitations. I can assure you that. But you're pretty good. I see that you copied my water clone technique when you said, 'I won't let anyone on my team die.' By making your clone speak as if it was the real one, made me divert my attention to that clone... while the real you used the Mist concealment technique to hide and observe my movements. However, I'm not that easy to defeat!"

The real Zabuza was behind Kakashi sensei. "WATCH OUT! HE'S BEHIND YOU!" shouted Naruto. Zabuza swung his sword. Iquickly looked away. I couldn't watch. The sword crashed to the ground. 'It didn't hit Kakashi sensei!' Turning my head back around I saw Zabuza kicking Kakashi sensei away.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" I screamed. Zabuza was running at high speed towards him. Suddenly he stopped. There was a glint of metal on the ground. 'Traps!' Zabuza jumped off and submerged into the water. That was when Kakashi sensei's head came out. Zabuza appeared behind him again. He was performing a seal.

* * *

I stared in horror. Kakashi sensei was in a water prison! Zabuza was talking, but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. If Kakashi sensei was defeated and put in a water prison there was NO way for us to defeat him! We were going to die, with no recognition, I'll never have met my goal as a ninja! To think that we died on the way and failed our mission! Tears were coming up now in my eyes. I didn't want to die! Not yet! 

"You four are not ninjas." I caught that last sentence. My eyes narrowed. True, I didn't work as hard as I could to become a ninja, but I wasn't about to hear that from the freaky serial killer that we were fighting. At that moment, Naruto fell back with his forehead protector flying midair. A foot landed on it.

"You are nothing but kids." I was furiously angry.

"Everyone! Get Tazuna san and run!" Kakashi sensei ordered. "You can't win against him!" I gave sensei a dirty look. Even he was saying what I didn't want to hear! "He can't move as long as he has me in this water prison. He also wont be able to use his water clone once you get away from him! Run for now!"

I gazed around at everyone else. Sakura looked scared, but Sasuke... he looked somewhat like how I felt right now. He ran for Zabuza. It all happened so quickly. In the end, Sasuke was thrown back at me.He crashed into me and we both fell back. I quickly stood back up and released chakra into my jacket and covered myself with it. I disappeared. Making sure that none of the jacket showed me, I made a dash for Zabuza.Swiftly andquietly, I took a leap and aimed a kick at his head. It was almost like there was a moment when I could've made it. He grabbed my leg and swung me away. I crashed into a tree. I thought I heard something crack in my body. Testing everything, I got back up. My head was bleeding and my legs were bruised.Looking ahead, I saw Naruto, terrified, at Zabuza's feet. He was shaking, and looked like he was about to run away. 'No, Naruto!' I screamed inside my head. Then he stopped shaking. Something just took over him. He stood up, with his fist clenched and gritting his teeth. He ran at Zabuza like Sasuke.

"Idiot! No!" screamed Kakashi sensei.

I was held speechless. Even if he was stupid, I figured he would've taken the hint by how Sasuke and I were thrown back. Blood was spilt. As the dust cleared, I saw Naruto on the ground. I was hoping that he wasn't fatally injured or something like that.

"What are you thinking? Charging in by yourself like that!" yelled Sakura. "Even Sasuke kun is no match against him! Genins like ourselves have no way of defeating him, no matter how much we tr-"

I put my hand on her. What she was saying, I disagreed with. Ok, Sasuke failed against him, Kakashi sensei failed against him, and Naruto was being an idiot to charge by himself like that. But... to say that we can't defeat him, no matter how much we try... That was the one thing that I wasn't going to listen to. I noticed Naruto was struggling to getback up. Right then I realized why he charged at him. In his hand, was his forehead protector.

"Hey... the no brow there..." said Naruto. "Put this in your bingo book... the man who will become Hokage of the Hidden Village of Konoha one day... The Konoha style ninja, Uzumaki Naruto!"

I learned one thing about Naruto that day. No matter how stupid he might act, or how clueless he really is, or even how bad he might be... in the end, he always showed everyone what he truly was, and that he would never give up. It was always like that, all the way back to when I first went to school in Konoha.

"Sasuke, lend me your ear for a second."

"What do you want?"

"I have a plan."

"... I can't believe you want to work as a team."

"Let's go wild now."

I couldn't help myself. I laughed a bit on the last thing he said.

"You seem to be pretty confident, but do you even have a chance of victory?" said Zabuza.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING? I TOLD YOU TO RUN! THE OUTCOME OF THIS BATTLE WAS ALREADY DECIDED ON WHEN I GOT CAUGHT!" shouted Kakashi sensei. "Our mission is to protect Tazuna san. Did you forget that!"

"Old man..." said Naruto. I looked behind me too. It was true, what sensei was saying.

"Don't worry, I caused all of this in the first place. I wont say I want to survive no matter what. Sorry everyone. You can fight all you want " said Tazuna san. I patted him andbeamed at him. "Thank you, Tazuna san." I said softly.

Sasuke grinned. "That's how it is." he said.

"Are you ready?" said Naruto.

"You don't learn do you..." said Zabuza.

"What?" asked Naruto.

"Still pretending to be a ninja? ... When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood."

"The Demon Zabuza..." said Kakashi sensei.

"I see you've heard of me."

"He is from the Village of the Mist, or also known as the Village of the Bloody Mist."

"Hmph. It seems like you know about the final test."

'Final test? Does he mean the graduation exam? the chuunin exam? Nani?'

"Final test? What final test?" asked Naruto.

Zabuza laughed. Abruptly he stopped. "Students killing each other." I gasped. "Friends who have eaten from the same pot, are separated into two and forced to fight each other... to the death. This is done with friends that helped each other, shared each other's dreams, and competed together."

I couldn't listen anymore. Hearing the word monster, I supposed it referred to Zabuza. Putting two and two together I knew what they were saying. Zabuza, the monster, probably killed all the students without hesitation. Maybe even enjoyed it.

"That was fun." said Zabuza.

He knocked down Sasuke, and kicked him in the stomach so hard, that blood came bursting out of his mouth. "Die..."

I screamed.

"KAGEBUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto's clone minions surrounded Zabuza. They all jumped him. None of them hit Zabuza and were poofed away. Naruto, who was sliding on the ground, rummaged through his bag and pulled out a windmill shuriken.

"Sasuke!" and he passed it to him.

"The Fuuma Shuriken, or the Shadow Windmill." said Sasuke.

"A shuriken won't work on me." scoffed Zabuza.

Sasuke threw it. But not for the water clone, but aiming for the real one. Zabuza caught it. Then the second shuriken was coming at him. 'Yes!' Zabuza jumped and dodged it. I was disappointed. Then the second one made a U-turn. I realized where this was going. Naruto poofed back. "THIS IS THE SPOT!" he threw a kunai at him.


	12. Twelfth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 12  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**My buddy gave a bracelet... that says ABC easy as 123. Thanks buddy! anyhoo... Italy won Fifa World Cup yay! I was rather hoping for Mexico...since they're so discriminated against lol just playin. I would like to thank my reviewers forI have touchdowned to a 30 point mark. yay. nothing happened today**

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The kunai was aimed for Zabuza's arm. He moved his arm so, that Kakashi sensei was free from his prison box. I thought that was the whole point, but then I saw a little blood that gushed out. Zabuza took the windmill shuriken and was spinning it to the max, about to throw it at Naruto. 

"YOU DAMN KID!" he shouted. The windmill stopped, and more blood was splattered. 'Kakashi sensei!' He had risen up and stopped it with his hand.

"Kakashi sensei!" said Sakura, joyfully. Naruto landed in the water and got back up again, with a huge grin.

"Naruto, your plan was impressive. You all have grown." said Kakashi sensei.

"Hahahaa. I used the shadow replication technique to hide the fact that I transformed into a Fuuma shuriken. I didn't do it to defeat Zabuza. I left one of my replications and transformed into a shuriken. Then my replica threw me out to Sasuke. Sasuke noticed that it was me right after he caught it. Then he took out his own shuriken and used it as the shadow shuriken technique. I hid in the shadow of the real shuriken and went straight for Zabuza. I knew that I couldn't beat him just by that of course. But I thought maybe if I could just break the water prison, maybe things would turn around... We were also able to get rid of the water clone so it was a success!"

"It was just luck." said Sasuke.

"JUST LUCK?" yelled Tazuna san.

"Ha, I just lost myself temporarily and cancelled the water prison technique."

"Nice excuse." I muttered.

"No, you didn't cancel the technique... you were forced to." said Kakashi sensei. "Let me just tell you that the same technique wont work on me twice."

There was so much tension in the air. I shuddered. "Kaneshi, Sakura! Don't let your guard down." Sasuke warned us. I nodded.

Kakashi sensei threw the shuriken someplace else. Suddenly, they both jumped back. Zabuza was performing a high paced, difficult seal. Kakashi sensei started doing the same thing. 'Sharingan?' I wondered. They sounded so freaky. Like them monks that chant hymns and such.Abruptly, the seal ended and they both shouted, "SUITON SUIRYUUDAN NO JUTSU!" Two giant dragons, made from water, emerged from the river.They entwined one another and then attacked each other. Huge waves splashed onto us. This was a sight that I had never seen. Amidstof it allwas Zabuza and Kakashi sensei struggling with each other with Zabuza's big sword and his kunai.

This confused me. 'If Sharingan can only copy, how was it that Kakashi did the same technique at the same time as Zabuza.. unless this is one of those other talents that it has...' They pushed each other away and ran in a circle. It was like Kakashi sensei was Zabuza's shadow.

"He's moving just like him! With perfect timing too!" said Tazuna san, with amazement.

"What's going on? Sasuke kun?" asked Sakura. It surprised me that Sakura wouldn't know. Her being that smart aleck dork that studies all the time. Sasuke never answered back.

Looking back at them, they were both saying the same thing and finishing each other's sentences. 'Well, whatever he's doing, I'll just assume that Kakashi sensei has done this alot.' Focusing more, something started appearing behind Kakashi sensei. It had the shape of Zabuza. 'Another water clone? What's Kakashi sensei doing?' "WATCH OUT! SENSEI!"

* * *

**Hehehehe this is pretty short BUT BUT BUT! (mob please dont attack me) the last chapter was pretty long right? yay glad we have a mutual understanding**


	13. Thirteenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 13  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**sigh... i try to be nice on this shit but NOOOOO i say no flames and guess what? someone gives it. _takes out machete_ ... you wanna say that to my face? **

**anyways they were right though.. i thought that too.. hehehe**

**Im probably not gonna be able to update for a week or 3 cuzzz... im goin on vaca! so... ... no mobs, or heated crowds**

**Disclaimer: I really do not own Naruto! I swear!**

**yay! Chapter 13333 is coming up!**

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**Nothing happened. It looked like a shadow that couldn't do any harm. "Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu!" said Kakashi sensei. 

Wild torrents of water swirled Zabuza away. I could hear muffled screams and shouts in the water. I covered myself from the waves splashing against us. The water carried Zabuza to land, where he was pinned against a tree with shurikens.

"This is the end." Kakashi sensei said. Looking up, I saw him crouching on a branch of the same tree. The water was shrinking away. I was drenched. My pants were never going to feel the same again.

"Why..." replied Zabuza. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah, you're going to die." said Kakashi sensei as he held up a shuriken.

Needles came zooming by and hit Zabuza in the neck. His blood splattered. I gasped. They were not from sensei, which meant someone else was there trying to kill him. I looked where Kakashi sensei was staring at. It was a boy around my age, wearing a mask. Zabuza's body fell to the ground.

"It was true. He did die." he said.

Kakashi sensei jumped down and inspected the body. I got suspicious vibes from the stranger.

"Arigato ozaimas." he said, bowing down. "I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

"That mask... If remembered correctly, you must be a hunter-nin from the Hidden Village of the Mist." said Kakashi sensei.

"You are very well informed."

"A hunter-nin?" growled Naruto.

"You don't even know what a hunter-nin is, Naruto." said Sakura. "You should've learned that in class."

"She's right you know..." I remarked.

"Hunter-nins are those who assassinate exiled ninja like Zabuza who, for some reason, go against the village they were born in. They do it to conceal any secret of their village. That's common sense! You should study more."

I sighed. It was bad enough for adults to always lecture Naruto, but to go as far as having Sakura do it...

"Yes, I am a member of the pursuing ninja unit that hunt exiled ninja."

It was really weird that some kid that could be my age or a bit older was already a hunter-nin. I only knew of one whobecame a jounin at a few years older than me. Naruto ran and skidded to halt in front of the hunter-nin. He looked furious.

"Who the hell are you!" shouted Naruto. "Who are you?"

"Calm down, Naruto. He's not an enemy." said Kakashi sensei.

"That's not what I'm asking! But...he killed Zabuza! He... He was so strong, but he was killed so easily by a kid that's not that different from me! We ... we look like idiots compared to him! I can't accept this!"

"NARUTO! If you're jealous, then work harder and train more. Don't joke around and eat the same food every single day.We can all use some humor in our lives, but if you don't want to be that way then that's fine with me. I'm sure everyone else wouldn't mind. Besides everyone has their own story, so don't try to change yours to be like theirs!" I rebuked him, in spite of myself. I partly agreed with him, but he didn't have to go and make a tantrum out of it. "And -" Kakashi sensei interrupted me.

"Kaneshi! That's enough!" he said. He turned to Naruto, "I understand how you can't believe it. But this is real. Even I agree with Kaneshi." He patted Naruto's head. "In this world, there are kids who are younger than you... and stronger than me."

Naruto grunted and gave me the 'evil glare'.

"Your battle ends here for now." said the hunter. "I must go dispose of this corpse. It's a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me." Wind swirled around him as he vanished.

Naruto ran to where they were.

"He's not there anymore." said Kakashi sensei. Naruto fell to the ground and kept punching it. I regretted what I told him. I could only feel pity for him.

"What was that!" Naruto yelled. "What were we! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!"

I went over to him and knelt down. "Naruto, I'm sorry for what I said, but you have to accept this." I said softly. He stopped. "He might be better than you, and all of us too right now... but what's a hunter-nin to a future Hokage, right?" I gave him a smile.

I stood back up and pulled him up with me. Midway, Kakashi sensei stopped us. "This is what happens when you become a ninja. If you don't like it, then make up for it next time." He let go and Naruto fell back down. "Our mission isn't over yet. We need to take Tazuna san to his house."

Naruto looked pitiful.

* * *

"Haha! Sorry about that, everyone!" apologized Tazuna san. "Just rest at my house!" I sighed in relief. 'Ah, we're almost there! He better have delicious meals, and a nice hot, steaming bath waiting for him there.'

"All right, let's cheer up and go!" Kakashi sensei took a step when he fell, landing on top of me. We went crashing to the ground.

"What? What happened?" asked Naruto frantically.

I moaned in pain. 'What was that? Is this a joke? Ugh, to think he'd do that right after we went through a terrible ordeal.' Iturned around, ready to give him a mouthful,until I saw his face.Helooked like hewas going through alot of pain."Kakashi sensei?"

"KAKASHI SENSEI!"


	14. Fourteenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 14  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I am back! WOOT! so tired... **

**Disclaimer: i do not own naruto. please you gotta understand!**

**hehehe now where did I leave off...**

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* * *

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I was sitting on top of Kakashi sensei, poking him. His eyes opened and he stared at me. "Ohayo sensei!" I greeted him. He sat up quickly, which made me fly off and crashed into the wall.

"Nande? Why do you have to scare me like that?" he said, tiredly.

"Eh? Me scare you? You scared me!" I said.

"Are you okay, Sensei?" came in and asked.

"No, I'll barely be able to move for a week... and shouldn't Kaneshi be training or doing something else then poking me?"

"You shouldn't move around for a while then and you should be thanking her. She's been watching over you while you were out."

"That's right! I took care of you!" I said. "Throwing me at the wall like that..." I muttered under my breath, while rubbing my head.

I heard footsteps. Looking to the doorway, there was Naruto and them. "Hey! Sensei's awake!" I said to them. They walked over and kneeled beside him.

"Sharingan is amazing, but it puts a lot of strain on the body. I'm not sure if it's good or bad." said Sakura.

"I'm sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for, Kakashi sensei? Without you, we wouldn't be here by now!" I exclaimed.

"Mmhmm, you defeated such a strong ninja. We should be okay for a while." said Tazuna san.

"By the way, who was that boy with the mask?" wondered Sakura.

"He had the mask of a pursuing ninja from a special squad from the Hidden Village of Mist's ANBU..." answered sensei. "They are also known as the fire extinguishing unit, and their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninja's body will give away the secrets of ninja techniques and Chakra of the village it was in, ... any specific medicine that was used on a body, along with various other things. For example, if I die, the secret to the Sharingan will be examined... And in the worst case scenario, there's a possibility that my techniques, including the Sharingan will be stolen. In other words, pursuing ninja will kill exiled ninja who have abandoned the village, dispose of the ninja's body... and stop any secrets of the village from being revealed. They are specialists in the field."

I got up and stretched. "Well, that's it. I'm going to just go walk outside a bit." It has been a while since I could catch some fresh air because of Kakashi sensei.

* * *

Sitting on the dock, I kicked around the water. The sun was blazing. I saw a little boy watching me. "Oy! Are you Tazuna san's grandson!" I shouted over to him. Squinting, because of the sunlight, I looked up at the sky. When I looked back down, he was gone. Thinking hard, the expression on his face was definitely not friendly. I headed back to the house.

* * *

"We are going to start training this morning." said Kakashi sensei. We were in the middle of a forest. "But before that, let me once again talk about Chakra, the base for the ability as a ninja.."

"At a time like this?" said Sasuke obnoxiously.

"Really, are we going through school again or training like ninjas?" I said.

"I already know all about that. It's Chakra right?" said Naruto.

"Ok, Sakura-kun." said Kakashi sensei.

"Listen, Naruto. I'm going to explain this in a simple manner to save time. Chakra is energy that a ninja needs to use to utilize a technique." She brought out a scroll.

"Hey! Look! Doesn't that look sorta like sensei? With the hair and the mask." I pointed out. Sakura hit me on the head.

"Anyways, that energy comes from the body energy that is collected from every cell in the body. and from the spirit energy that comes from training and experience. In other words, techiniques come from these two energies that are squeezed out of the body and molded together... this process is known as making the Chakra, and with this Chakra one is able to execute a techique by forming a seal."

"Correct! Iruka sensei was blessed with a nice student, I see." congratulated Kakashi sensei. Sakura giggled.

"What's with that? You can just learn that with your body even if you don't understand the hard stuff." said Naruto.

"Exactly what Naruto said. We're able to use techniques anyway." agreed Sasuke.

"I think its easier to learn from experiencing rather than from taking notes and such, too" I said.

"No, you guys aren't able to use your Chakra completely. That's why ninjas train."

"NANI?" exclaimed Naruto. His huge onyx eyes freaked me out.

"Listen up. Like Sakura said, to mold chakra is to extract energies from both the body and the spirit, then mixing them up in your body. The amount of each energy will differ from the type of technique you wish to execute. In other words, the mixing will be different. You are not able to use your Chakra effectively. Even if you are able to mold a large amount of Chakra, if you can't control the balance, your technique will only be half as effective or not executed at all. Wasting energy will create a weakness of not being able to fight for a long time."

"So what should we do?" I asked. Naruto laughed sheepishly.

"That is why we are training today."

"So what are we doing exactly?" asked Sakura.

Sensei laughed. "Climb a tree!"

"Climb a tree!" we all said out of surprise.

"That's right. But it's not ordinary tree climbing. You're going to climb without using your hands."

I looked down at my hands. 'Is that even possible?' I wondered.

"How do we do that?" asked Sakura.

"Just watch." said Kakashi sensei. He limped to a tree and started walking up the trunk. It looked like it was so easy.

"He's walking..." said Naruto.

"... vertically using only just his legs." finished Sakura.

Sensei was standing upside down on a branch. "This is how. Gather your Chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it attach to the tree trunk. Something like this is possible if you use Chakra."

"Wait, how can we become strong by doing that?" asked Sakura. I was getting annoyed with her endless questions.

"The main purpose of this training is to accumulate the right amount of molded Chakra in the right location. This is difficult, even for a well trained ninja. The amount of Chakra used for this tree climbing exercise is quite subtle. And the most difficult place to concentrate Chakra is said to be behind the feet. In other words, if you are able to master this, you can learn any kind of technique. In theory that is. The second purpose is to maintain that molded Chakra." I stopped listening and looked up to the trees. I used to love climbing trees, but then I started losing the heart to do it. "Well, it's not like anything is going to happen even if I give this lecture. I need all of you to leaern it with your bodies." 4 shuriken landed at our feet. "Use that knife to mark where you are able to climb up to with your current ability. Then try to make a new mark above that mark. You guys aren't good enough to climb by walking, so run to give yourself a boost, and get used to it. Got it?" I needed to find my heart to climb these trees. Naruto was bragging it off again.

I had my hands in seal form and concentrated on gathering the chakra to my feet. I stood like thatuntil I felt a power sensation in my feet. I ran for the tree and ended up just pushing off of it with my feet. I crashed to the ground and start concentrating my chakra again to my feet. I heardSakura's voice from up high. There she was, sitting on a branch, looking so proud of herself. I felt the power in my feet again and ran for it again. I made it up halfway and then I jumped off, out of balance, and landed in another tree. I was crashing down when I saw the little boy again. He was walking away.

* * *

It took me a while before I could even reach the lowest branch. I had so many bruises and swollen places. Running out of breath, I breathed hard and fast, observing Sasuke and Naruto's progress. Sasuke was going somewhere, while Naruto was still somewhere near the bottom. I sweatdropped. He stopped and cursed at the tree. Then he walked over to Sakura who was a deadbeat. It was obvious he was asking her for advice. 

I started running up the tree again with more boost than ever.


	15. Fifteenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 15  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**i decided to make this a little bit more interesting**

**wait for it**

**I DO OWN NARUTO! BWAHAHAHAHA SO SUE ME! just playin **

**well i'm back and ready for action**

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It took me all day just to go halfway as Sasuke. After I got to the ground, I sat and leaned on the tree. I was pooped out. Naruto and Sasuke were still going at it, but Sasuke was WAY ahead of us. Naruto was catching up though.

"Naruto!"

Naruto paused in his running shot and fell forward. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO FOCUS?" he yelled.

"Um...well...that is..." mumbled Sasuke.

'Is this what I think it is?' My eyes were all shiny and sparkly. Hope elevated way up high.

"What is it?"

"Earlier, you... asked Sakura for some tips, right? What did she tell you?"

'IT IS! IT IS! SASUKE IS ACTUALLY ASKING NARUTO FOR HELP!' I was so excited and watched them with such intensity.

"I ain't telling!"

I sweatdropped. 'How could you! Naruto!'

They looked at each other. You could cut the tension between them with a knife. I sighed.

"Bup! Well, the moon's up, it's late, it's time to goback." I announced to them.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke were scarfing their dinner down. It was unsightly to watch.

"Wow! This is super fun! It's been a long time since we sat down to a meal with so many people." said Tazuna san.

'Is it even possible to eat that much, that fast?'

"More!" they asked. Glaring at each other a a shot of static electricity met between them. Then they threw up. Naruto, threw up ALL OVER MY FOOT. Furiously, I hit him hard on the head.

"BAKA NARUTO! Excuse me from this dinner please. I just lost my appetite (I said politely to Tazuna-san and Kakashi sensei)"

With a disgusted look on her face, Sakura yelled, "If you're gonna throw upthen don't eat!"

"No, we have to." replied Sasuke.

"Yeah, we have to, no matter what, because we have to become stronger as fast as possible." said Naruto.

At that I left the house.

* * *

I sat in front of their house, meditating, for a while. (I washed my foot of course)SuddenlyI heard the door slam and Inari came out. Soon after, his mom followed.I didn't bother them. Their life wasn't mine to bother.

* * *

Having set my alarm for really early in the morning, I started training at sunrise. Naruto was already there. We both nodded to each other. I concentrated my chakra to my feet. Running, I made it to my last stopping point. For two hours I ran up there, and for two hours I fell back down. I was hardly making any progress. My stomach rumbled. Blushing from embarrassment, I looked atNaruto, hoping he hadn't heard it. But he was knocked out, lying on the ground. 'Boy, he must be tired.' I went back to the house for breakfast.

* * *

I met Sasuke at the door. "Ohayo." I greeted him. He nodded and kept walking.

"Ohayo everyone" I said as I came in. Fromobserving atall the dirt and smudges on me, Sakura said, "You too?"

Ravenous as hell, I ignored her comment and sat down at the table. "Itadekimasu!" and I started scarfing it all down,like them.When I was finished, I was still hungry soI looked around for seconds. There were none.I noticed that Inari didn't eatat all."Yo, Inari. You gonna eat that?"

"Kaneshi!" Sakura rebuked me.

"Whaaaat? I'm starving!"

Inari said nothing. Looking at him, puzzled like, I decided that he probably didn't want to give me any. I got up, "Well I'm off to train some more."

"Geez, those three are fast." muttered Sakura. I headed out the door and started to run. While I was running, a lady wearing a pink kimono walked past me. She smiled. 'What a pretty lady' I thought.

Finally I caught up with Sasuke, who was calling Naruto a moron. 'And I thought their relationship was getting better...' I sweatdropped. "Well I'm finally here, so what yall waiting for?" I said. They turned to look at me. I concentrated my chakra to my feet and ran as fast as I could. I felt more energy boost than ever. The other two did the same.

* * *

"Sasuke! Naruto! Kaneshi! Are you here!" called Sakura. I looked down at them, breathing hard with pride. Naruto threw a kunai at their feet. I was at the same level as Naruto now. Waving at them, I didn't take any notice of what Naruto was saying. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw Naruto falling off the branch.

"NARUTO!" I yelled out in shock. He slid and stood upside down on the branch.

"Just playing." he grinned.

I was relieved but pissed. He started laughing and his feet lost connection with the branch. I thought he was playing around again until I heard Sakura scream. A blue blur shot across and caught Naruto by his foot. "Baka." said Sasuke.


	16. The Battle on the Bridge

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 16  
By: Neji is SO Mine**

**THIS is me Mina BWAHAHAHAHA THAT GIRL(she wants her name to be confidential)assigned me this chapter. geez, why this one. She said that I was very random. Yes I am. But I'm not in my randomness mood today SO i studied AND copied how she writes. after all I AM the greatest copier ever. **

**I don't own Naruto. **

**And so begins the death march for Haku and Zabuza**

**We love you!**

**

* * *

**

I was stunned by Sasuke's will to save Naruto like that. Even if he did add an insult to it. Sakura's obnoxious cheering for him was getting to me.

By nightfall, I had made it almost to the top. Sasuke and Naruto, from their exhaustion, waited for me up there. Taking a deep breath, I concentrated my chakra to my feet as hard as I could. I started to run full blast. With a foot at the very top, I pushed off and landed on the highest branch. We all made it.

"Shall we go back?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah!" grinned Naruto.

"Not just yet." I turned away from them and shouted to the entire forest. "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!WHOO!"

* * *

Limping the whole way with Naruto leaning on me and Sasuke, we entered the household. I held my head up high with pride. 

"What's this? You're super dirty and worn out." remarked Tazuna-san.

"All of us ... made it to the top!" Naruto told him.

"Good." nodded Kakashi sensei. I was a bit disappointed since I was expecting more than just a good. "Naruto, Sasuke, Kaneshi! Tomorrow you'll protect Tazuna-san too."

"HELL YEAH!" whooped Naruto. He leaned back and we all fell on our butts.

"You total moron." groaned Sasuke.

"Baka Naruto."

* * *

"The bridge is nearing completion ... all thanks to you guys. I wanted to ask you earlier, but... why are you still here when I lied about this mission?" asked Tazuna-san. 

"'To abandon one's duty is not courageous. Below the courageous, there is nothing.' Those are the First Hokage's words." Kakashi sensei replied.

I so agreed with that. Suddenly I heard a tear splash on the table. Looking over my shoulder, there was Inari with tears streaming down his face.

"Why..."

"What?" asked Naruto.

"WHY DO YOU TRY SO HARD LIKE THAT? EVEN IF YOU TRAIN, YOU CAN'T BEAT GATOU'S MEN! NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU WORK... OR HOW BIG YOU TALK!AGAINST THE STRONG, THE WEAK LOSE!" He shouted.

I was shocked and appalled. Knocking over the chair, I ran to strangle him. "Why you little." I stopped midway to him when Naruto started talking.

"Be quiet! I'm different than you." he said calmly.

"SHUT UP! SEEING YOU PISSES ME OFF. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, YET YOU BUTT IN! YOU HAVEN'T HAD A ROUGH LIFE!YOU'RE ALWAYS HAVING FUN AND LAUGHING! I'M NOT LIKE YOU!"

"So, like an actor in a tragic play, you're going to cry all day? An idiot like you should just keep on crying! You little sissy!" shouted Naruto.

"Naruto! You went too far!" rebuked Sakura. It was true.I didn't think that wouldcome out of Naruto to a little kid. He got up and left."Naruto..."

* * *

After finishingmy dinnerI walked past the front window. There was Kakashi sensei and Inari sitting out there. I was glad sensei was butting into his world.

* * *

I hearda dim buzzing noise in my ear. Grabbing the fly and squashing it I got up. Everyone was gone, except for Naruto, who was snoring away. I panicked and ran into the kitchen where that lady (whose name i so happen to forget) was washing the dishes.

"Where are they!" I asked her.

"They already left for the bridge. Your sensei said to catch up with them if youwant, or you can help me."

I thought about it and I wasn't exactly good at women's work so I ran out the door, into town. I was surprised by how ghetto everything was. Beggars lying about in the street. Thieves running away with a measly apple. People begging for work. I pitied them so much. All of this was surrounding methat suddenly I could hardly breathe. The pressure was enormous. I ran out of there and ended up at the riverbank. Seeing the huge bridge, I followed the road there.

* * *

Ahead of me were sensei and them. They were just standing there staring at something. I strained my eyes to see what they were looking at. I skidded to a halt. There were dead bodies just lying about. Fog started creeping up until I couldn't see the bodies. But their images were scarred into my mind. I started to run again. This was not supposed to happen. It could only be the work Zabuza. I mean DUH. Anyhoo I ran up to them. They were already in formation.

"KANESHI! Stop right there. Don't come any closer." yelled Kakashi sensei.

"I'm sorry for the wait ... You're still with those brats. He's shaking again, poor kid." This voice was booming out of nowhere. I felt a tingly feeling running up my back. Someone grabbed my foot and threwme to the other side of the bridge. Normally I would've lost my head and screamed, but that training did help. I snatched the kunai from my pouch and threw them at the water clones surrounding them. 2 hit them and 1 missed. I was heavily disappointed in my aiming skills. Suddenly I realized that I was about to crash into the ocean.

'Oh shit'

* * *

**My friend needs me. She knows she does.**

**So you'll be hearing from me again**

**Peace out yall**


	17. Sixteenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 17  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Its me. I'm proud of Mina's work but she's SUCH an idiot. changing my name like that RAWR**

**The Sadness continues!**

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**

I got into landing position and waited. Before I crashed into the icy ocean waves, I concentrated the chakra into my feet and went for it. Aiming my legs for the bridge supports, I started running in midair. Crashing on there, I ran as hard as I could, up to the bridge. At the top, I jumped up high and landed lightly on my feet. It was utter silence. The wait for a fatal battle seemed endless. Finally Kakashi sensei talked.

"Oh my... It looks like my thinking was right on the mark."

"Thinking?" responded Tazuna-san.

"That masked one..."

"As I thought." said Sasuke. It was like a whole group conversation. I advanced a step, trembling with excitement.

"So, being a Hidden Mist hunter-nin was a complete lie?" exclaimed Tazuna-san.

"He's obviously Zabuza's comrade, standing right next to him and all..." remarked sensei.

"How dare he show up like this after what he did..." growled Sakura.

"Nobody likes guys that act cool like that."

I sweatdropped. This was getting nowhere. I looked at the masked one. For someodd reason, that pink lady's smiling face kept flashing in my mind. Suddenly he vanished. A swift tornado raced towards Sasuke.Smirking, hewas readyto attack. 'So it finally begins...'

* * *

It was hard to see everything through this dense mist. After all they were all over there and I was here. Creeping along the side, trying not to be seen, I saw that Sasuke was in battle with the hunter-nin. Their speed was extremely fast. I couldn't keep up with their motions. Finally they stopped and the hunter-nin was doing the impossible. I stared in amazement. 'A one-handed seal!' 

He stomped on the water puddle. The water drops flew into the air and formed into needles. I pulled off my jacket and ran to him. "SASUKE!"

* * *

When I got there, though, he was gone and the needles were heading straight for me. I concentrated my chakra into my jacket and spinned until a whirling mass of blue and black was made. The needles were stopped short and landed on the ground, turning back into water. Doing that exhausted me. Suddenly, shuriken landed in front of me and kept on coming in a line towards the hunter-nin.Jumping back, I lookedup, there was Sasuke. He disappeared and reappeared behind him. 

"You're too slow." Sasuke said. "From now on, you will only be able to run from my attacks." Awestruck, I watched him, outspeed the masked guy and kick him back to Zabuza. "Looks like I have the advantage in speed."

"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them 'brats'."said sensei. "Sasuke is Leaf Village's number one rookie. Sakura is the brightest in the village. Kaneshi ...she's the temperamental onethatused to freak out in dangerous situationsbut also has the most mysterious talents. The other one.. is the show-offy, hyperactive, number one loudest ninja in the village, Naruto."

I sweatdropped. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN TEMPERAMENTAL ONE THAT FREAKS OUT IN DANGEROUS SITUATIONS? DID YOU JUST SEE ME THERE? THAT WAS TOTAL SKILL. Hmph! I'm not playing with them anymore!" I stomped off to the sidelines again.

Zabuza laughed. "Haku, do you understand? At this rate, we will be driven back." I turned around and looked at him. 'Haku?' The so-called Haku was burning with chakra now.

"Sorry." he said. Water flew up and formed into ice mirrors, entrapping Sasuke with Haku. "Demonic ice mirrors!" He walked towards one and melted into it. 'What is this?' This strange feat scared me. Sensei ran to them with a worried look, when Zabuza stopped him.

"Your opponent...is me." he said. "Against that jutsu, he's finished."


	18. REVIEW TIME!

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 18  
By: Nejiis SO Mine**

**this is mina. THAT GIRL doesnt wanna do a BORING chapter**

**so im filling in**

**i like so dont own Naruto**

**today is a reviewer show HOHOHOHO**

**oh and for those that love hilarity and furuba/fruits basket i recommend my new story**

**XMAN! Fruits Basket style**

**yes i like to advertise my other stories in my other stories**

**

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**

We took a break off from the mission today. Yes, yes I know. We were like right in the middle of a battle sequence but ITS A REVIEW OF WHAT WE DID SO FAR! DUR! Anyways. I'm just sitting in the audience, watching a slideshow of what Naruto was like before he became a ninja. Iruka is narrating that part. Teeheehee that idiot Naruto. So. I heard that Naruto wrote the whole script so I was like squirming with excitement to see what was gonna happen. OH there's me! He's describing me!

"A blonde that is EXTREMELY temperamental and she's always scared to participate in what we do. But she has a great figure." WHAT THE HELL!

"NARUTO! I KEEL YOU!" He ran outside and I chased him. I stopped short and watched the rest. It moved on to the scary scenes with Zabuza. Eek. Watching it again made me feel sick.

"Hey! That's me!" yelled Zabuza up front.

(This is a time where there are no enemies and no thinger to fulfill.)

Once again it was all about Naruto. The brave things he's done yada yada yada. I threw a bag of popcorn at the screen.

"BOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOO" I was expecting everyone to join in but instead they threw candy corn at me.

"Yea yea yea! That's me beating Zabuza!" bragged sensei. Sheesh. Where's the part with me and just me?

It was our training part now. Ick. We all looked so disgusting.

OMG ITS ME ITS ME! ... in my 'oh shit' moment... damn Naruto!

Uh oh! I'm late for my cue!

* * *

**she wrote that far. Now, for the real thing is MOI but not this chapter**

**im le tired**


	19. Nineteenth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 19  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**hehe i dont own naruto**

**so today: WOW i decided to explore the secrets of my account and i found this little button thingy that said stats**

**it has everything **

**

* * *

**

I was worried, when Sakura threw a kunai at the mirrors. Haku caught it from the mirror, which didn't exactly make sense to me.

**_POOF_** Haku was thrown out of the mirror. There were clouds of smoke everywhere. It slowly, and gradually faded away. From where I was, I could only see the orange jumpsuit. 'Naruto'

"Uzumaki Naruto... has finally arrived!"

* * *

"Now that I'm here, everything will be fine. Usually in this type of situation, the main character shows up and instantly kicks the enemy's ass! " he yelled. 

I sweatdropped. 'That idiot...'

"KAGENOBUN-"

"Naruto!" 4 shuriken flew to him

"Aah"

_Ting._ 4 needles stopped them.Everyone started talking at once. Then sensei was lecturing to Naruto about the skill of sneaking up on your enemy. Not your barging in making you a willful target. Naruto was freaking out. 'Pssh. Me the freaking out one?'

"So you don't want me to interfere, Haku? You're soft as always..."

"I'm sorry."

"Well then, I'll just have to defeat you first!" shouted Naruto. "That mask.. So, you were Zabuza's friend. How dare you trick us like that!"

"Sorry."

That kid was just apologizing to everyone over and over again. I stood there, waiting with anticipation.

"But as your sensei said, tricking your opponent is the true art of the shinobi. Don't hate me for it."

He was right. I looked over at where Sasuke was. 'SASUKE!' I just realized that with Haku gone, Sasuke could make it out. So why wasn't he... I ran to him and squeezed in between the mirrors.

"KANESHI!" shouted sensei. Sasuke threw a kunai at Haku. Haku dodged it.

"I haven't forgotten about you. You must be happy now, that your friend joined you." Sasuke turned around and looked at me. I laughed weakly, waving hi. "I'd like it if you'd just stay down, but it looks like that's not going to happen. So I'll have to deal with you first. You better protect your friend, or she'll be hurt."

"HEY!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto-kun. We'll settle things later."

I backed up until I felt the mirror wall. My heart was beating extremely fast.

"Kaneshi! Get out of here!" said Sasuke.

"It's too late."

I felt a tremble and there was Haku in front of Sasuke. I thought that I could take this battle. But my heart that was racing just stopped right there. I wasn't ready! Haku suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind me. I became paralyzed and didn't dare move.

"No, I'm right here."

Haku started appearing in every mirror. I looked everywhere, it was all so frightful. My eyes were bulging out of there sockets. I moved away from the mirrors. Just for a moment, I felt a peace of mind. When needles came flying from every direction. It threw me back and I landed on the ground. I had cuts everywhere. Blood was gushing out profusely. But it wasn't fatal. Actually, none of the needles went in deeply or hit critical parts. Looking over at Sasuke, he looked the same as me. But he had a concentrated expression. I realized that this isn't the time to be thinking about how injured I was.

"OY! I came to save you!" shouted Naruto. He was right in front of Sasuke. I sweatdropped. 'BAKA!' I could tell Sasuke was thinking the same thing as me.

"You total moron!" He yelled. "If you're a shinobi, then move more carefully."

"What did you say?" Naruto shouted back. "I come to save you and this is what I get?"

"Why'd you come inside the mirrors? Damn it!"

'I wonder what Haku could be thinking right now...'

"I don't care anymore. You're an idiot."

"Idiot? How dare you call me an idiot, you idiot!"

Sighing, I stood back up. I winced from the stinging that the cuts brought on me. 'Great, I'm in pain and Sasuke and Naruto are having a fight in the middle of a battle right on the battlegrounds too.'

"All right then, I'll just bust these mirrors! Fire element." Sasuke said.

I looked fora way out. If me and Naruto could get in here. Then there has to be a way to get out. I reached my arm for the space between the mirrors, when fire blasted everywhere. "WHAT THE CRAP?" I screamed. My shirt was messed up and my hand was swollen.

"It didn't do anything at all!" shouted Naruto.

The burning pain was making my head dizzy.

"You can't melt this ice with fire of that power level." said Haku. Another attack of needles came. It seemed less sudden this time, but hit me anyway.

"KAGE NO BUNSHIN!" shouted Naruto. I was glad. This would make it easier to find the real Haku.

"DON'T!" said Sasuke. A green blur moved quickly from one side to the other, taking down a clone each time.

"This jutsu... uses the mirrors' reflections to transport me. From my point of view, you guys seem to be moving in slow motion."

"Damn it! So what?I can't die here! I have a dream I must fulfill... The dream to have everyone acknowledge my strength!" said Naruto.

Out of the blue, I remembered the times when I would walk through the training grounds and I saw a Hyuuga training hard with a girl. They would both look exhausted and the girl would insist on stopping for the day. But the Hyuuga never did until he was satisfied.

I snapped out of my daydreaming and turned to reality.

"Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me... If possible, I don't want to have to kill you.Nor want you to have to kill me. But if you come at me, I can destroy my kind heart with a blade, and become a true shinobi. This bridge is the place where we fight... to connect to our dreams. Me, for my dream, you for your dream. Please don't hate me. I want to protect someone precious to me, to work for that person, to fight for that person, to make that person's dreams come true. That is my dream. For that, I can become a shinobi. I will kill you!" said Haku.


	20. Twentieth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 20  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**ITS THE NEW MILLENIUM! THE 20TH CHAPTER! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH! WE ARE THERE! now for my thank you speech:**

**Oh dear fans. Without you, I would've probably given up and left this story in the wild. But your comments encouraged, inspired, criticized me. And I am so happy that i made it this far! There were many times when I felt like giving up. Because 200 chapters! I mean seriously! But then I thought about my purpose of writing this story. etc etc. ok i know you guys just want the story. haha**

**just think bout what it'll be like on the 100th chapter. or the 50th. HOHOHOHOHOHO**

**ok now read!**

**

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**

Breathing hard, I looked at Haku. I felt so stupid. Sneaking in here trying to save Sasuke and I just made it worse for him. Naruto topped it off so that it felt like the end. But they both were trying hard to defeat that guy and protecting me. I was just standing here and not doing anything, and plus I was getting injured too. That probably made them feel that they weren't doing enough. I had to do something.

"I don't chicken out after failing just once! I'll do it over and over again! Kage bunshin no jutsu!" shouted Naruto.

"DONT!" yelled Sasuke, but he was too late.

Just like before, tons of clones of Naruto jumped everywhere only to be attacked by this amazingly fast green blur. As a finishing touch, he threw needles at me and Sasuke. I screamed from the pain.

"What is this!" asked Naruto. A drop of water fell to the ground. As it splashed, another memory was pulled out from my mind.

I was on the training grounds again. It was the 1stanniversary of my father's death. Tears were streaming down my face as I practiced everything he ever taught me. It took me months to get it all right and use it correctly. I was practicing the gentle fist when that Hyuuga walked in on me.

_"You cannot master that technique."_ He startled me. _"It's an advanced bloodline. You are not one of them. You are not one of us. I saw you during our training sessions. Watching us. Studying my moves with great intent. I do not know your purpose of doing that, but it is not your destiny to learn what I do. So give itup." _With that, he walked away. I sat down and thought that he was right. I wasn't an advanced bloodline, I wasn't getting much better, so why was I doing it? I gave up on it. I never practiced that again, but ever since then I felt a heavy burden of regret on my chest.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" I snapped back to reality again. Naruto was at it still. Sasuke kicked up some water.

"Can't you realize that it's useless?"

Needles hit us again. It was stronger than before. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" I saw this as the time to track down Haku's movements.

"Byakugan!"

* * *

**sadly, even if it is the 20th chapter**

**IT WILL HAVE TO END HERE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA**


	21. Twenty First Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 21  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**It's getting near the end. **

**I would NEVER own Naruto.**

**

* * *

**

It wasn't as strong as I intended it to be, but nonetheless, everything slowed down. Well, it seemed to. Everything was going just as fast, but this time I could follow him with my eyes, catching every detail that he did. Sometimes I lost him, but the fire technique that Sasuke was using always got me back on track. I took off my jacket and threw it to Sasuke.

"COVER YOURSELF WITH IT!"

The needle round came once again. Focusing on every bit of motion around me, I managed to dodge half of the needles. Sasuke followed what I said and covered himself. He was unharmed. On the other hand, Naruto was on the ground, looking worse than ever.

"Damn, we were so close!" cursed Naruto.

I understood Haku's pattern now. He moves from reflection to reflection, at the speed of light. From how the mirrors are arranged, he could move to another mirror within a 3 to 6 radius horizontally. And same vertically.

"Naruto! Get out of this and attack from the outside!" ordered Sasuke. Naruto started running.

"As if that could happen." The mirror's flashed and Naruto was pushed back a little.

"Like, I would give up!" shouted Naruto, and he kept on running. I saw it again. That green blur. It was moving towards Naruto, when a fireball came in the way. He only slightly moved to dodge it and kept going. Soon he was right in front of him and kicked him away.

"Damn!" Naruto cursed again.

"Let's do this one more time." said Sasuke.

"Things won't go as you wish. I'll start with you!" Both Naruto and Sasuke ran in different directions, when another round of needles hit Sasuke. Then Naruto. All of a sudden Sakura'sscream pierced the air. I had to do something. So far I haven't done anything except analyze the enemy. Naruto started running again. He was seriously injured, and in no position to attack. Haku fired another launch of needles at Naruto. He fell back and laid there, unconscious. I ran over to him. This wasn't getting any better for us. Another needle launch came at us. Sasuke blocked them all. It was like he could see all of Haku's movements.

It was all a blur again.

"Kaneshi! Run!" Sasuke picked up Naruto and ran to the other side. Shortly after I got away, another attack of needles landed where we were. 'Sasuke...' his eyes were ...'Sharingan!'

Haku didn't stop there though. Launch after launch he fired and Sasuke got hit to protect the both of us. Blood was dripping down from him. As I watched him, tears were welling up in my eyes. This wasn't how I imagined my first real battle. I wasn't sitting beside an unconscious teammate while my other was dying for us. The agony from watching all this started suffocating me. Naruto stirred. I wanted to scream. Then slowly, as Sasuke fell to the ground, my breathing returned to normal.

"SASUKE!" shouted Naruto.

I covered Sasuke with my jacket. "Naruto, let's get wild."


	22. Death March of the Pink Lady

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 22  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**It's getting nearer! and I've been doing pretty short chapters lately... Maybe this one will be long. ladidadeedaaaaa**

**Someday, I'll buy Naruto and THEN own it. **

**

* * *

**

"He... To protect a precious person, and knowing it was a trap, he was still able to jump in. He was a shinobi that deserved respect. Is this the first time a friend of yours has died? This is the way of the shinobi." Haku melted into the mirrors once again.

"Hmph. Sasuke would never die like this. He's just mental right now." I said. All that time that I was just standing there watching Naruto and Sasuke fight him, I carefully observed how Haku fought. I picked up one of the needles. "Do you realize what you've done for me? Look at all these needles." I scoffed. "BYAKUGAN!" There were exactly 142 needles on the ground. I could see the outlines of Sakura and Tazuna-san standing out there. I could also see sensei and Zabuza fighting. Looking back at Haku, I couldsee the tenketsu. I threw the needle at the mirror. He caught it. I needed to get Haku out of there. "Naruto! Use Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

He nodded. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" His clones jumped everywhere, just like before. I saw Haku flying out of the mirror. Taking 4 needles, I threw them in the direction he was going. He dodged them. The second time around, I threw 4 needles again and then quickly threw 4 more needles above his path. 'YES!' I hit him. But he didn't seem hurt. He went back inside the mirrors. I wasn't expecting this. Needles came flying at me from everywhere. I tried to dodge them, but I was only able to avoid a few. Naruto was hit too. I felt faint. I lost strength in my legs and landed in my own pool of blood. Before I blacked out, I saw a swirling red fire that Naruto was in the middle of.

* * *

I woke to the sound of a million screeching birds. It was moving. I lifted my head and strained my neck. Sensei was running with an enormous visible chakra at his hand, aimed for Zabuza. It was all happening slowly, when Haku appeared in front of him. Blood was splattered. I looked away. He had jumped in to save Zabuza. Like Sasuke did. Images of that pink lady kept flashing in my mind. Sensei jumped back. I saw Haku's long-hidden face. I saw the pink lady. The used-to-be smiling pink lady. The one, who's smile was dead.

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**thats all I have time for today :(**


	23. Twenty Third Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 23  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**haku died. zabuza sees no point in living**

**or so i say**

**i wanna read the mangaa but i cant cuz i dont have the money to buy it alllllll and i have no idea where the bookstore is.**

**BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**

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**

I struggled to get up. The pain was horrid. The moment when Haku died kept playing over and over.My legs were numb.

"Naruto! Kaneshi! You're alive!" Sakura was yelling. But I was blind to everything. That moment was replaying in my eyes. "Where is Sasuke-kun?" I thought I was ready to handle death, the day I became a ninja. But to see sensei kill someone. To see someone else's blood spilt onto his hands. The shock... How much blood was spilt to get sensei to where he was now. And what about Haku. How many people did he have to kill just for Zabuza. How many people would I have to kill? Was this the way of the ninja? To kill or be killed? Theword kill kept ringing in my head. Finally, the replay stopped. I looked over at Sasuke. He had risked his life for us. Just like Haku did. But why didn't I feel any sadness for him? I thought of when I was fighting Haku.

_"Sasuke would neverdie like this." _

Am I fooling myself? Sakura ran past me. The breeze that followed lifted my hair. She was bawling now. That did it. Tears were falling down fast from my face. With each splash, a memory of what I did with my team came. Us laughing, eating, working, playing, joking around. My heart was aching. When we went on missions, I felt like I hada family again. Then to see one die, to see them kill another... It pained me so.

"You're getting your ass kicked! How disappointing, Zabuza." said this old man.

"Gatou, what are you doing here? And what's with all these men?"

So this was Gatou... the man who wreaked havoc.. the man who caused all of this to happen.

"The plan has changed. Sorry, Zabuza, but I'm going to have you killed here."

"What?"

"Hiring normal ninjas is expensive, so I get Missing-nins like you. The ninjas battle it out, and, with any luck, they kill each other, saving me both money and effort. But the Devil of the Hidden Mist? What a joke, if you ask me... You're just a cute little baby devil."

This man was talking shit. He walked over to the body of Haku. He hit him with his cane. Fury took over me. Naruto shouted, "You bastard!" and took off running to him. Sensei caught him.

"Say something too! Weren't you friends?"

"Shut up, kid. Haku's already dead."

"Don't you feel anything at all after that? Weren't you always together?"

"As I was used by Gatou, I used Haku. That's all it was. I've said it before. We shinobi are simply tools. What I wanted was his ability, not him! I have no regrets."

_"We shinobi are simply tools." _Was that true?

"You.. Do you really mean that?" Sensei put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. I couldn't hear what he said. "He's still my enemy! Haku.. He... he really loved you! HE LOVED YOU THAT MUCH! YET YOU REALLY FEEL NOTHING? Do you really really not feel anything? If I become as strong as you.. Will I really become like you? He threw away his life for you!"

I couldn't take it anymore. I covered my ears as tears overcame me. I, too, became a ninja, because it was my father's dream. I always planned to become one and be the strongest... to make him proud of me. He would always say to me, _"Kaneshi, someday you're going to be the best ninja out there." _I worked hard every day, when he was alive, to make that dream come true. But that day... That day... when he sacrificed his life for me... all I could do was run away. And ever since that Hyuuga said that to me, I never tried. Soon it all became pointless. But right now ...

"You don't need.. to say any more." I looked up. "It pained Haku to have to fight you... He fought not only for me, but for you guys too. I can understand. He was too kind. In the end, I'm glad I got to meet you guys. Yeah, kid. You may be right. A shinobi is still human. We may not be able to become emotionless tools. I lost. Kid, lend me your kunai!" He caught it with his mouth.

He ran into that crowd of armed people. What they saw might have been a devil. But I saw passion. When he was done and killed Gatou, he stumbled back, falling to the ground.

"Kaneshi! Naruto! Sasuke's alright!" I looked to them in surprise. Sasuke raised his hand. A smile was forming. Until I heardthe roar of running footsteps of a mob.


	24. End of Country of the Wave Arc

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 24  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I feel like telling more about Kaneshi.**

**Her favorite food is: Ramen (Naruto introduced her to it in-between-scenes and she loves the spicy taste of it)  
Her Rolemodel: Naruto. She respects/admires how he influences greatly onpeople's feelings/and or personalityand she wants to be able to do that.  
Her Greatest Fear: Death (ever since the Zabuza and Haku incident she doesn't want to see death again and in future chapters im gonna make so that she'll even risk her own life to save others)****  
Her BFF: Hinata, Ino, Temari. You might ask why Sakura's not included. It's cause I tend to find Sakura a little annoying, BUT they get alongtogether fine. You know what... they're friends, just not best friends.And you might ask why Tenten isn't in there either. That's because everyone says she'll pair up with Neji which I am HIGHLY against. I AM SO HIGHLY AGAINST IT IM NOT EVEN LETTING MY OWN CHARACTER GET HIM! hehehe  
Her TRUE goal: I put that it was to avenge her mother's death. But in fact I made it so that she hardly even knew her mother. Her real goal was to surpass Naruto's willpower/strength/courageand become a highly ranked shinobi, meeting her father's dream for her.**

**I think I'm giving spoilers out now so I'll stop here.

* * *

**

An arrow shot through the sky, landing at the feet of that mob. In relief I look towards the village people.

"If you come any further onto our island... the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we've got!" The crowd cheered.

I was so glad that they had the courage to get together and fight back.

"A hero shows up at the last second, right?" grinned Inari.

'Inari...' I felt so stupid, crying again in a moment like this.

"I'll help out. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kakashi sensei split too. I was dumbfounded. He said he didn't have enough chakra to attack, but he canduplicate himself a million times more than Naruto.

The mob turned and fled onto the boat, down below.

"We did it!" shouted Inari. Everyone cheered. In the middle of all that, I looked towards sensei, with a big smile. Soon it was all silent. Sensei was carrying Zabuza to Haku, as his last request. I felt light, cold, softness falling on me. I looked up to the sky. It was snowing. It wasn't the time of year. Was this Haku's way of saying thank you? The sun started peeking out of the clouds. The sunlight gradually grew, shining on Haku and Zabuza's bodies, together.

* * *

We were at their burial mounds. To honor them I made awreath of jasmine flowers and laid it on their mound. (jasmine flowers are known to last through the winter and very quickly recover from snow and dont ask how kaneshi got it or how i know)

"But, Kakashi sensei..." said Sakura. "Were these two right about ninjas?"

"A shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own goals. Existing as a tool is most important."

"Is that what it really means to become a true ninja?" asked Naruto. "You know what,you know what? I don't like that at all!"

"You believe that too?" asked Sasuke.

"Well...That's why each and every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue. Just like Zabuza and that boy." replied sensei.

"Ok! I've decided! I'm going to be a ninja in my own way! I'm going to run straight down a path of no regrets!" declared Naruto.

I beamed at him. The sun was setting. I looked up at the sky. I swore I could see Haku and Zabuza, together still, smiling at us.

* * *

"Thanks toyou, we have now completed the bridge. This is super sad..." Tazuna-san said to us.

"Thank you for everything."

"Don't worry. We'll come visit!"

I walked over to Inari. Squatting down to his level, I handed him a present. "Inari! Inside this bag is a medallion. And it says HERO. I want you to never give up on courage and stand up for what you think is right." I got up again and patted his head.

Joining the rest of my team, Naruto and Inari had their own little crying moment.

"Inari! You're sad right? You can cry!"

"I'm not going to cry! But, Naruto, you can cry too if you want!"

'Geez, can this get any cornier?' I rolled my eyes.

* * *

"OK! Let's get there soon so I can have Iruka Sensei buy me some ramen!" 

"Count me in!" I exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah! And I have to tell Konohamaru about my legendary feats!"

I let out a booming laugh.

"Then, I will... Hey, Sasuke-kun, how about a date when we get back?" Sakura asked.

"No thanks."

I laughed again. Naruto hung back. "Hey, hey. How about me?"

"NO WAY! SHUT UP, NARUTO!"

"Say, today's a beautiful day! We should all hang out together." I shouted.

"Maybe." said Sasuke.

Sakura looked like he just slapped her. I was shaking with laughter. Even after our terrible ordeal,everything ended just right.


	25. Chuunin Exam Arc Begins

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 25  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Begin: Chuunin Exams**

**_throws confetti_**

**

* * *

**

I stared at the water below us. It reminded me of our mission at the Country of Waves. Naruto told me everything that happened while I was blacked out. About Haku, and Zabuza... bringing up a question that was never answered. Was this a world of laughter, or a vale of tears. Hearing running footsteps, I looked over to the side. There was Naruto.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" he said. Then he and Sasuke had a glaring contest, which ended with both of them looking away. Scoffing, I looked back down at the water. 'Just don't say hi to me.'

* * *

"Ohayo, children! I got lost today, so..."

"YOU'RE LATE!" shouted Sakura and Naruto and me.

"Hey, hey, Kakashi sensei! We, the 7th squad, have been only doing easy missions, right? Isn't there a mission where I can play an active role, and something that's more... exciting? Something that makes my way of the ninja, you know, and my heart you know, like this?"

I sweatdropped and backed away slowly... He was on a burning rampage.

"Oh, I see, I see. I see what you're trying to get at." said sensei, quickly.

Naruto suddenly glared at Sasuke. His teeth bared and onyx eyes. I flew up the pole and quivered in fear. "I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

"Hey, Naruto, what are you doing? We have a mission." called sensei.

"ROGER!" shouted Naruto.

Naruto was scaring me now, as I hid behind Kakashi sensei.

"Eh... Kaneshi what are you doing?"

* * *

Our mission was to pull out weeds. Oh what fun. I was tugging at them and the heat was getting to me. 'Really, how does Naruto go so fast like that?'

"Heh heh heh!" laughed Naruto.

"Hey, you..." said the lady we were working for.

"Miss, I'm done pulling out all the weeds! Eh.. What's wrong?"

"Those aren't weeds... Those are herbs... THAT I'VE BEEN CULTIVATING!"

"OUCH!" I sweatdropped. Even that lady was scary.

* * *

We were now picking up litter from the river. It was refreshing, compared to pulling out weeds.

Suddenly Naruto slipped and was screaming for help. He fell off the waterfall. "FREE FALLLLL!"

Sasuke ran off to catch him. I just kept working. pretending nothing happened.

* * *

The next mission was to walk dogs. I chose the cute fluffy one. On the other hand... Naruto picked the huge big strong one. I saw him sliding past, pleading to not go that way. I sweatdropped.

"That baka." said Sasuke.

"Ya think?" I replied.

"That's what happens when you choose the big dog!" sighed Sakura.

I heard explosion after explosion. I sighed.

* * *

"This is what you get for being reckless." Sakura rebuked him. Her and Sasuke were supporting Naruto after he got bombed away.

Sasuke smirked. "You're a guy that needs help all the time."

Naruto went crazy and was about to jump him when Sakura stopped him. "If you're going to go wild anymore, I'm going to finish you off!"

"The teamwork is out of order lately. and Kaneshi, exactly what are you doing?" said sensei.

I was hiding behind him again. "They're scaring me."

"Yeah! And you're the one who disrupts our teamwork, Sasuke! You always stick your nose into everything!" accused Naruto.

"No, it's you." I said.

"It is you, baka. If you don't want to owe me anything... become stronger than me."

They glared at each other again. Except it wasn't just glaring.

"Shall we call it quits for today? I have to go submit the mission report now. and Ka-ne-shi! You're hurting my back!"

* * *

I was walking home when I saw a brown box with eye holes that somewhat looked like a rock. I squatted down and looked at it. It was going towards Naruto. I followed it. Suddenly Naruto started running this way and that way. I stood up and leaned on the fence, waiting for them to stop. Suddenly Naruto stopped.

"A square rock with two holes like that does not exist!" cried Naruto. "It's SO obvious!"

"I should have expected that from the man whom I have high hopes for and is also my rival." Even if it was obvious I was shocked. The rock was talking! There was a flash of light and then huge puffs of smoke. Then I heard coughing.

"Hey, you used too much gunpowder." I stared at them.

"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult, and the female ninja from the senior group, Moegi!" The little girl said.

"The one who loves dividing numbers, Udon."

"This village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!"

I sweatdropped. So this was Konohamaru.

"The three of us make the Konohamaru Corps!" This was getting awkward.

"Just as I thought, it was the three of you. Ah! Why do the three of you have goggles on?" asked Naruto.

"Hehehe. We copied the old you." giggled Konohamaru.

"Oh..."

"Oh? You've been treating us so cold lately."

"And? What do you want?"

The little kid whispered somethin to the geeky lookin kid.

"Well, Leader, do you have time right now?" asked the girl called Moegi.

"Nope! I have to go train!"

"EEHH You said that you would play Ninja with us!" I fell down right then and there. A ninja playing ninja? The little kids noticed me.

"What's the point of a ninja playing ninja?" Sakura drifted over.

"What?" said Naruto as he blushed.

"Onii-chan, who are these big girls?" He stared at us weird. "You're better than I thought." Naruto looked confused. "They're your..." He raised his pinky.

"Haha! You kids are pretty sharp!"

This was the first time I ever felt like beating up Naruto. I raised my fist up high and punched him like there was no tomorrow. At the same time as Sakura, of course.

"What did yall do!" yelled Konohamaru. I stood up straight and brushed my shoulder off.

"Hmph. It's not us. It's him."

"You ugly girl! UGLY!" My face turned red. The veins were popping out. I cracked my knuckles. I looked at Sakura. She nodded.

* * *

"Nice working with ya!" I called to Sakura. She waved.

"That big forehead ugly girl. Is she even a girl?" I stopped breathing. I looked around and started feeling pity for that fateful boy. I ran off to the fence and climbed up there. They started running, when Konohamaru ran into someone. I caught up with them.

"That hurt." said the guy with alotta make up on. He picked up Konohamaru up by his collar. "That hurt boy."

"I'm sorry, I was joking around, so..." said Sakura.

I was worried. Who are these people?

"HEY! LET GO OF HIS SHIRT!" yelled Naruto.

"Hold on. I wanna have some fun before noisy people come."

"Let go!" cried Konohamaru, kicking him.

"You're very energetic, kid."

I couldn't take it anymore. "YOU BULLY! PICK ON SOMEBODY YOUR OWN SIZE!" I shouted at him.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with you later."

I backed away a couple meters.

Naruto was furious and charged at him. The guy moved his fingers a bit and Naruto fell down.

"Konoha's genins are weak." he smirked.

"HEY! If you don't let go of him, you're going to get it from me, you baka!" threatened Naruto.

Sakura got a hold of him and shut him up.

"You annoy me. I hate short people anyway. And you're so impertinent for someone younger than me. It makes me want to break you."

"I'm not going to be responsible for what you do." sighed the girl beside him.

I started taking out a kunai.

"Afteer this short kid, the short kid over there is next." I was about to throw it when someone already threw something at him. Konohamaru dropped to the ground. A pebble rattled to the ground too. I looked in the direction where the pebble came from. Sasuke... once again.

"What do you think you're doing in another's village." I sweatdropped. Why did he have to be so cool. Sakura was squealing his name.

"Another kid that pisses me off." growled the guy. He was gripping on to his wrist.

Sasuke stopped throwing the rock up and down and crumbled it into sand. "Get lost."

"Naruto-nii-chan, you're not cool." said Konohamaru.

I blushed. Sasuke wasn't that bad looking.

"Hey, kid! Come down. I hate kids like you, who think they're so clever." He pulled on the thing that he had hanging to his back. It was unwrapping.

"Hey, you're not going to use Karasu are you?" The girl looked worried.

He slammed the thing onto the ground. Brown fur at the top was showing.

"Kankuro, stop." A cold voice came out of nowhere. "You're a disgrace to our village."

That was a shock. "G-Gaara..."


	26. Twenty Sixth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 26  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Gaara so cool.**

**

* * *

**

"You're a disgrace to our village. Why do you think we came all the way here to Konoha?"

"Wait a minute, Gaara. These guys started it."

"Shut up! I'll kill you."

"It was my fault! I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Excuse them, you guys."

I gaped at him. He was so scary, yet so awesome.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to fool around."

"Ok."

I was relieved they were leaving.

"Hold up!" I was about to shut Sakura up. "Judging from your forehead protectors, you are ninjas from the Hidden Village of the Sand, right? The Country of Fire and Wind are allies, but a treaty prevents ninja from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose. According to your reasons, I will..."

The girl replied. "What you're looking for is closer to you than you think. You don't know? This is a traffic pass. As you guessed, we're Genins of the Hidden Village of the Sand from the Country of Wind. We come to this village to take the Chuunin selection exam."

"Chuunin.. exam?" I asked.

"Yea, yea. What's a chuunin exam?" said Naruto.

"You all really must not know." sighed the girl.

"Naruto, you can advance from a Genin to a Chuunin if you pass the exam." I froze. Even the little kid knew more about it then me.

"Really? Then I should take it, too." he exclaimed.

Sasuke dropped down. "Hey, you there. What's your name?"

The girl turned around and blushed. "You mean me?"

"No, the one next to you with the gourd." said Sasuke.

He turned around also. "Gaara of the desert. I am also interested in you. What's your name?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." There was a long silence. 'What is up with all these moments between the guys?' I wondered.

"Hey, hey, what about me?" shouted Naruto.

"I'm not interested."

They jumped away. Life here was either getting scarier or more interesting.

* * *

Kakashi sensei had called us for a meeting at the bridge again. And he was late... again.

"Hey, hey, hey! Why does that person always make us wait when he's the one who called us up?" roared Sakura.

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto backed her up.

"How is he going to compensate a girl who woke up late and had to give up blow drying her hair?"

"I woke up late, so I couldn't wash my face or brush my teeth!"

"How dirty..."

I knew there was a bad smell reeking from him.

"Ohayo gentlemen, I got lost in the path known as life today..."

'... gentlemen? a path known as life?' "KA KA SHI SEN SEI! You're always late! Eh? And you give these weird lame excuses that no one will ever believe! It's hard to believe you made it to jounin!" I shouted at him.

He drifted away, "And to think I lended you my back in your times of need..." I sweatdropped. He jumped down. "I'll get to the point. I recommended all of you to the Chuunin selection exam, so... Here, take these applications. However, the recommendation does not force you to take it. You can decide if you want to take it or not."

"YES! I LOVE YOU KAKASHI-SENSEI!" yelled Naruto as he jumped on to sensei.

"Ah! Cut it out and get off!" He put Naruto on the ground. "Only those who wish to take it are to sign the applications, and... five days after that, get to school by 3 PM and go to room 301. That is all."

"Hehehe! The Chuunin exam. The Chuunin exam." and Naruto frolicked away.

* * *

I looked at my application. Was I ready for the exam? We weren't even genin for that long. And what if that exam was similar to the one that Zabuza went through. I imagined our hokage laughing an evil laugh as we all died one by one. I shuddered it off. Nah, he wouldn't do that. Even if it was really freaky...

I stopped. I felt the eery presence of a stalker. I didn't know what to do. If I turned around, he'd run away or maybe kidnap me. If I kept walking, then he'd kidnap me. "Byakugan!" I muttered. I saw him. I slowly started to walk again. Just as I thought, he moved to grab me. Having a kunai in hand, I turned around and screamed, "STALKER! YOU PERVERTED NASTY OLD MAN!" I punched him and kicked him until he was a bloody pulp. "Hmph! That should teach you!"

When I got home, I made up my mind. I was going to take the exam. I wasn't about to let my team get ahead of me.

* * *

They were waiting for me. I waved hi to them. Sakura soon followed. There was a huge crowd on the second floor. We pushed through them. I saw something green fly. A fight already? We made it to the front. Eh... They were blocking the wrong doors.

"A sound argument, but I'll pass. And undo this field you've created using an illusion technique." remarked Sasuke. "I want to go to the third floor."

He was so cool.

"Oh?" said one of the guys.

"You noticed?" said the other.

"How about you Sakura? You should've noticed first. Your analyzation skills and illusionary technique know-how is the best in our squad." That was true.

"Sasuke-kun... thank you. Of course, I've noticed it already. Because this is the 2nd floor!"

"Mmhmm" I said.

Soon it was gone and the door sign changed back to 201.

"You're pretty good. But just being able to detect it isn't enough..." The guy blocking the door suddenly attacked Sasuke, but Sasuke was ready and about to attack back when a green blur flew by. The first thought that came into my mind was Haku. But it wasn't. A guy in a green spandex and a haircut gone wrong stopped the two from fighting.

"Hey, you broke your promise." It was that Hyuuga.

* * *

** Im going to have a pause here and let me go crazy over Neji before going back to the story. **

**OMG I LOVE NEJI! HE SO FINE! AAAHH I LOVE HIM AND TENTEN SHALL DIE BEFORE SHE GETS HER HANDS ON HIM! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG sigh i wish neji was real.**

**

* * *

"You're the one who didn't want to gather attention by doing something that stands out."**

"But.." said the green one.

"She must be why." said the girl in pink as she shaked her head.

The green one was blushing and looking at Sakura with the greatest admiration. He started walking over to her. "My name is Rock Lee."

* * *

**Let me stop here too so i can go whack over rock lee.**

**OMG ROCK IS SO COOL! HE'S DA BEST! TRULY AND HONESTLY IF NEJI WASN'T ALIVE THEN I'D TAKE ROCK LEE ANYDAY! SCREW SAKURA! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**

* * *

"You are Sakura-san, right?"**

"What?"

"Let's go out together! I will protect you until I die!"

I sweatdropped.

"No way..."

"What?"

There was another silence.

"You are too "unique" for my tastes." growled Sakura.

"Hey, you there. Identify yourself." That Hyuuga came over to him. I looked away. I didn't like him. Except now I was staring into the burning eyes of Naruto. I backed away. I bumped into the Hyuuga's foot and was falling down. I was at least expecting him to catch me. But he didn't. He looked at me on the ground. "You..." I got up by myself.

"Hmph." and walked away. Then I sweatdropped. There was Naruto and Rock, being supported by the wall. They were in a state of depression.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kaneshi, let's go!"

"OK!" I shouted, punching the air with my fists. We were walking up to the third floor. For one thing, I was determined to beat that Hyuuga and show him who's boss.


	27. Twenty Seventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 27  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I wont own Naruto. I refuse to! heh heh heh**

**oh maee gaww my favorite characters are coming in!**

**should I name them off?**

**OK**

**Neji neji neji neji neji neji neji Rock LEE rock lee rock lee rock lee KIBA aka BEAST BOY Shinoooooooooooooooo Choujiii aka Fattay hehehe Hi na ta AWESOMENESS Inooo hohoho Gaaraa he so sweet Te mari she so sweet tooo! SHIKAMARU sweet thang hmm anyone else? well there's a whole lot more but i cant think of em so ill stop here **

**lalalalalala**

**dude something's wrong with my computer. so how am i going to continue this story? hmmmmmmmmmm**

**maybe i'll just lay it down for a while until it starts workin**

**hehehe OK now its working**

**

* * *

**

We were almost there when Rock Lee caught up with us.

"You there with the sharp eyes. Wait." We all turned around.

"What do you want?" Sasuke lazily asked.

'How does he know he's with the sharp eyes...'

"Will you fight me right here, right now?" Rock Lee asked.

"Fight you right here, right now?"

"That's what he said." I replied.

"You stay out of this."

I was taken aback that he would say something like that to me! I dramatically clutched my shirt and pretended to feel faint. Then limped away for the finale.

"My name is Rock Lee. You're supposed to identify yourself before you ask for someone else's name, right...? Uchiha Sasuke-kun."

"So you know my name."

I sweatdropped. They weren't even paying attention to me. I stood by the wall on the other side. For safety precautions. Rock Lee got into position that kept reminding me of monkeys.

"I would like to fight you. I would like to see how my moves will do against a descendant of the genius ninja clan. Also... Sakura-san. Love!"

I sweatdropped. He was one determined loverboy. Sakura was screaming "NOOOOOOOO! I hate those eyelashes! Your hairstyle, fuzzy eyebrows, and everything about you is too unique for me!"

"You're an angel!" crooned Rock Lee. and he winked a heart to Sakura. I sweatdropped again. Did he not notice the NOOOOO part or the I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU part. I shaked my head. Some guys just cant get out of their denial. Sakura dodged the heart.

"Very nice. How about this?" He winked an entire squad of hearts. I started laughing my head off.

Sakura was dodging it all like crazy.

"Stop throwing weird things at me! I had to dodge those like my life depended on it!" she screamed.

I laughed even harder and tears were coming out. Then I started wheezing and choking and gasping for air.

"Hey, hey Kaneshi-chan. Are you alright?" asked Naruto, patting my back.

"So you're challenging me knowing my name is Uchiha? I'm sorry to say this, but you're ignorant. Do you want to see what this name of Uchiha is capable of, fuzzy eyebrows?"

"Hai."

My coughing quieted down. They were seriously going to fight, right now.

"Wait!" I turned around to see Naruto. "I'll fight the fuzzy eyebrows guy."

"Eh, Naruto. You shouldn't be involved in this. I mean, come on." I told him.

"Don't worry, it'll only take five minutes."

"That's what you'd like to say." I muttered.

"I don't want to fight you. I want to fight an Uchiha." argued Rock Lee.

"Geez, everyone is annoying me with this Sasuke, Sasuke thing!" Naruto charged at him. Rock Lee just slapped him away. Naruto tried to attack him again but he dodged it and tripped him, rolling him away and slamming into the walls.

I was awestruck by that. His appearance would make you underestimate him, but he was pretty fast and strong.

"I will declare this now. You cannot defeat me. Because... I am the strongest of the Konoha Genins right now." he stated.

He had to be kidding me. First he challenges Sasuke for love and honor and now he's bragging? SO not cool.

"Interesting, I"ll accept it." Sasuke smirked.

Sighing, I sat against a pole and got ready to enjoy a show.

"Don't Sasuke-kun. We have less than 30 minutes to turn in our applications." warned Sakura. She was right.

"Don't worry, it'll only take 5 minutes." Sasuke charged at him now. Rock Lee dodged it so fast and attacked him with a kicking whirlwind. Which explains the name for it.

"Konoha Whirlwind!"

It was all happening so fast and Sasuke was hit. It looked like he was guarding himself from it, but he still got the full blast. He slowly got up again. His eyes had changed. Sharingan. I sat up a bit straighter. This was going to get interesting. Sasuke was running again. I was more expecting an "Ow! You hit me!" and a "Hmph. I win." with his trademark smirk. But that didn't happen. My mouth opened in shock as Rock Lee kicked Sasuke head on.

"Yes, my moves are neither ninja nor illusionary techniques." Rock Lee kept hitting and kicking him. He got through all of Sasuke's guards and attacks. "Yes, my moves are just hand-to-hand combat. Sasuke-kun." He moved again. He reappeared behind Sasuke. "You may not be able to believe it right away, but..."

"Damn it!" Sasuke aimed a punch at him. Rock Lee jumped back.

"I hear that the Sharingan has the ability to see through genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. You can definitely see through and deal with genjutsu and ninjutsu that require forming seals and kneading Chakra... But for taijutsu combat, it's a little different."

"What do you mean?"

"Even if you can see my movement with your Sharingan, your body does not have the speed to keep up with mine. In other words, there's no point even if you can see with your eyes, if you can't keep up with your body. Do you know that there are genius-types and hard-working-types among the strong? If your Sharingan is a genius-type that carries the blood of Uchiha... I am a hard-working-type that continuously improved my hand-to-hand combat."

Sasuke ran to him again, and he dodged it. "Your Sharingan and my ultimate hand-to-hand combat skills are a bad combination." Rock Lee kicked him again. Sasuke went flying through the air. Rock Lee suddenly disappeared and then reappeared under him. "I will show to you with this move... that hard work surpasses geniuses. I win!"

I was hardly breathing. I just HAD to see what he was gonna do. A red toy windmill flew through the air and pinned the bandages that came loose to the wall.

"Stop right there, Lee." I fell to the ground. A talking turtle. No wait, a RED talking turtle. Sakura caught Sasuke before he hit the ground. "Lee, that move is forbidden." I had to be going crazy. A red talking turtle, SCOLDING Rock Lee.

Rock Lee started freaking and tried to explain in a random gibberish that I couldn't understand.

"Baka! Did you think that excuse would work? You should know very well what it means for a ninja to expose his move."

I started backing up like 100 mph. A red talking turtle, that was scolding Rock Lee AND knew the ways of the ninja. Something was very wrong.

"Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest."

There was a puff of smoke and the older version of Rock Lee appeared. He was in the strangest position that I fell down head first from the shock of it all.

"You guys are in the spring time of your life, aren't you!"

"An even more unique guy came out!" shouted Naruto.

My nose was bleeding and my eyes were just bulging out now.

"Yo, Lee."

I ran back until I crashed into the wall. My heart was NOT prepared for all these surprises in one day.

"Hey! Don't make fun of Gai-sensei!" shouted Rock.

"The hell I won't! We don't know how to react because of all these weird things!" Naruto shouted back.

"What did you say...!"

"Cut it out, Lee!" said his sensei calmly. "You..." He pulled back his fist "IDIOT!" he punched Rock hard and .. REALLY HARD. Blood was spilling out his mouth. I was clawing the wall now. These weirdos were NOT for me to be with. "Lee, you... you...

* * *

ok i myself was getting freaked out too

and it was getting too long

so

TUNE IN FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER WHERE HE WILL FINISH HIS SENTENCE!


	28. TWenty Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 28  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Did anyone else notice that I finally gave the chapters names**

**yay. **

**and people keep asking is kaneshi a girl or boy**

**she's a GIRL**

**MMHMM YEP SHE'S DEFINITELY A GIRL. YES. GIIIRRRRRLL**

**and for all you people wondering if there's gonna be any love triangles or whatnot.**

**i dont think so.**

**maybe**

**but its like 75 percent no.**

**if you wanna know why**

**its cuz i read WAY too many stories with pairings and stuff**

**ive had enough of that.**

**

* * *

**

"Lee... you... you..."

"S-Sensei!"

Tears were flowing down their faces. I didn't know how to take anymore of this.

"Sensei! I... I..."

"It's okay, Lee, don't say any more."

"Sensei!"

"Lee!" They hugged each other.

I took a deep breath and sighed. And I thought Zabuza was scary...

"This is the springtime of youth!"

"Sensei!"

I slowly slided behind Sasuke. I didn't want to watch anymore.

"That kind of situation isn't so bad!" grinned Naruto.

"BAKA! It's dangerous! Too dangerous!" screamed Sakura.

I sat down and twiddled my fingers. Maybe this was part of the exam.

"Sensei..."

"It's ok. It's normal to make mistakes when you're young."

"You're too kind, Sensei."

I banged my head on the floor. Who am I kidding?

"Now, run 100 laps at the training ground in the sunset!"

"Yes, sensei!"

What sunset?

"Hey, hey hey! We aren't done talking!" protested Naruto.

"What are you going to do about the Chuunin Exam? There isn't any time left!" said Sakura.

"Wha? Oh.. ok. Lee, I'm going to punish you for fighting and breaking a promise after the Exam, okay?"

"Hai!"

"Do 500 laps!"

I started to walk away, dragging my feet. If these were the type of people we were going to fight against then I don't think I'd make it.

"You four! You're Kakashi's right? How is Kakashi doing?"

"You know him?"

"I don't just know him. Hmm... People call us eternal rivals."

"THAT IS SO FAKE!" Sakura and Naruto accused them.

"DON'T BE SO RUDE TO GAI SENSEI!" shouted Rock Lee.

His sensei stopped him there. "You don't have to say it. Show it in your attitude." He disappeared. He appeared behind us. "The record is 50 wins and 49 losses. The truth is... I'm stronger than Kakashi."

I was clinging to the wall like a cat.

"Lee caused you trouble, but please forgive him for the sake of my face. This refreshing face, that is. Lee and the four of you should get to the classroom soon." He poofed away.

I dropped down in relief.

"Sasuke... To be honest, I came here to test my skills. I lied a while ago. The strongest of the Konoha Genins is in my team." My eyes narrowed. That Hyuuga... "I entered this Exam to defeat him. And you are one of my targets, as well. Prepare yourself for the exam!"

Even if he was really weird, and freaky, and whacked, we did share a goal. To beat the Hyuuga. Maybe I could be friends with him.

"Looks like the Uchiha Clan isn't so great after all." remarked Naruto.

"Naruto!" barked Sakura.

"Shut up." said Sasuke.

"But he lost pretty badly right there."

"Next time... I'll slaughter him."

"Such harsh words..." I muttered.

"You saw his hands didn't you. It looked like he trained alot everyday. Trained even more than you." said Naruto.

Sasuke looked furious. "Good. This is getting interesting... The Chuunin Exam, that is." He smirked.

Maybe it was. We were headed towards the room now. I now know my goal. To beat the Hyuuga and Sasuke.


	29. Twenty Ninth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 29  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**First Exam Commences!**

**yay yay yay**

**i think i forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter. well anyways**

**for both chapters: NOT OWNING NARUTO!**

**Recently, in the last few chapters I have been...well... NOT SERIOUS. This is where the seriousness begins. But not THAT serious **

**hehehehe**

**

* * *

**

We were at the doors. Kakashi sensei was there to meet us.

"I see, so Kaneshi came also. You can now officially register for the Chuunin Exam."

I eyed him suspiciously. "What are you trying to say...?"

"To tell you the truth, this exam can only be taken in teams of three. But I compromised with them that if Kaneshi and Sakura came, then our team of four could enter."

"So if I and/or Kaneshi chose not to come... then Sasuke and Naruto couldn't have entered?"

"Yes."

"So what would have happened if only Sasuke-kun and Naruto came here?"

"I would have prohibited them from taking the exam and not allow them through these doors. But the four of you have come on your own free will. Sakura, Naruto, Kaneshi, and Sasuke. You four came. I'm proud of the four of you. You're my team. Now go."

I grinned and nodded.

"All right, let's go!" shouted Naruto.

We opened the doors.

* * *

I faced a whole crowd of genins. I wasn't expecting this much. Sweatdropping, I started breathing very slowly. For some odd reason, they were all glaring at us.

"Sasuke-kun! You finally came!" There came Ino running up. "I've been eagerly waiting for you ever since I heard that I could see you for the first time in a long time."

"Get away from Sasuke-kun! You Ino-pig!" screamed Sakura.

"Oh my, it's you, Sakura. Your forehead is wide and you're still ugly... as usual."

I sighed. Their rivalry has now begun. Again.

"What did you say!" Sakura was furious.

"What, are you four going to take this troublesome exam, too?"

I looked ahead. "Yo Shikamaru, Chouji!" I greeted them.

"Hey! It's the idiot trio!" shouted Naruto. I covered his mouth and laughed nervously.

"Naruto, don't call them that!" I hissed.

"Yes, stop calling us that. How annoying!" said Shikamaru.

* * *

Like Naruto (in the show) I'll introduce them to you.

Shikamaru. He's a very laidback person that is taken to be very lazy. His favorite phrase is either How annoying or How troublesome. I'd like to be his friend, seeing how we are somewhat alike in our personalities.

Chouji. Pretty much a fatty. I don't know much about him, but maybe if I become good friends with him, he'll share some of those chips with me.

Ino. We're just acquaintances. She's a Sasuke fan and her and Sakura always fight over him. But, she's very social. Great way to make new friends.

* * *

"Yeah! We found you! So I see everyone is here." shouted Kiba.

"Konichiwa." Hinata, shyly, said.

* * *

Introductions again.

Kiba. He's a very outgoing guy that carries his dog, Akamaru, everywhere. Sometimes he can be a jerk.. like that time he splashed mud all over me and then laughed... BUT that's all in the past so, no grudges!

Hinata. She's my first and best friend. Very shy, but very nice. I found that she tends to give up alot. A habit that I plan to break. And it's pretty obvious that she totally crushes on Naruto. Also a Hyuuga.

Shino. Umm... He's a very mysterious guy that doesn't talk much. I think he uses bugs... and wears sunglasses everywhere. But I'm pretty sure he's a nice guy.

* * *

"Ah, Hinata-chan, this is so great! Chuunin Exams together! Yay!" I jumped to her.

"What? So you three made it too? Geez..." said Shikamaru.

"It's not like its a bad thing, right?" I tried to brighten him up.

"I see, so all ten Genin rookies this year are going to take the exam. How far do you think we can get, Sasuke-kun?"

"You seem to be confident, Kiba." scoffed Sasuke.

"We trained like hell. We won't lose to you."

"Shut up. Putting Sasuke aside, I won't lose to you."

I groaned. This was turning into more of an argument than a friendly reunion.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun didn't mean it that way." apologized Hinata. I felt so proud of her. The peacemaker.

"Eh?" I sweatdropped. That Naruto is gonna go down someday.

"Don't step on it." said Shino.

"Huh?"

"I said, don't step on it."

I looked down. It was a bug. I jumped back. I do not like bugs.

"Hey, you guys! You should quiet down a little. So you're the nine rookies that just graduated from the academy, correct? You're all fooling around with those cute faces... Geez, this isn't a field trip."

"You piece of scum. Like you're any better." I muttered.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto. Look around you..."

We all looked around. That crowd... of scary people... were still glaring at us. I got closer to the middle of our group.

"The ones behind you are from the Hidden Village of Rain. They have a short temper." I moved forward. " Everyone is tense since it's right before the exam. I warned you so that you won't get picked on. I guess it can't be helped though, since you are just rookies who don't know anything. It makes me remember the old me." This guy was kinda sorta pissing me off.

"Kabuto-san, is it?" said Sakura.

"Hai."

"Is this your second time, then?

"No. It's my seventh time."


	30. Thirtieth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 30  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I dont own Naruto. Not now, never will.**

**

* * *

**

This guy is really pathetic. Seventh time? Well, at least he had some commitment.

"This exam only takes place two times in the whole year. This is my fourth year."

"Then you must know alot about this exam!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Yeah."

"Kabuto-san must be an expert then!" shouted Naruto.

"So can you tell us about it?" I asked him.

"But he hasn't passed it yet." muttered Shikamaru.

"Heh heh heh. Yeah that's true." He said sheepishly.

"Is the Chuunin Exam that difficult? This is getting even more troublesome." whined Shikamaru.

"But, but, but, this is his fourth year, so he must have SOMETHING he can tell us, right?" I said, hopefully.

"Maybe I should tell my cute underclassmen some information then... with these recognition cards." He took out these orange cards from his pocket.

"Recognition cards?" asked Sakura.

"In simple terms, it's a card that has information burned into it using my chakra."

I leaned on the wall. This was getting interesting.

"I've collected information on this exam from the past four years. There's about 200 cards total. To get the information from this card, "

He started swiveling his arm so that the card was spinning in circles.

"What are you doing?"

"It's made so that you can't view it without my chakra. Like this" POOF.

The card instantly turned into a map.

"WOW! What information is this?" gasped the shocked Sakura.

"The exam's total number of examinees and countries participating. It also has the number of participants from each hidden village. Let me ask, why do you think we do the Chuunin Exam together?"

No one answered. "Who would know the answer to that." I scoffed.

But nobody heard me.

"First, it's to deepen the friendly relationships with the other countries. Next, it's to heighten the level of the ninja. That is what they say."

"That is what they say?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, the real purpose is to confirm the level of the ninja in each adjacent country to try and balance out the power."

"Power, balance." repeated Naruto.

"And why do they go through such a troublesome task?" whined Shikamaru.

"If they don't do that, the weak countries will be invaded and dominated by the strong ones."

"Hold up." I raised my hand. "Do you mean as in a war?"

"Right. So they need to check and restrain each other's powers. It's just my guess, though."

"Are there any cards there that have detailed personal information?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah. Is there someone that interests you?"

"Yes."

"The information of this exam's examinees are not perfect, but I've burned and saved them." He neatly stacked the cards again. "They include the information about the ten of you, as well."

That kind of creeped me out. Sounded like stalker-ish doings.

"Tell me whatever you know about the people you know that interest you. I'll look it up for you."

"Gaara from the Hidden Village of Sand. And Rock Lee from Konoha."

I wanted to ask about the Hyuuga, but then again, I was a bit afraid to ask.

"Oh, you know their names. Then it won't take much time." He swiped off a card in a wannabe cool movement. It wasn't cool. "Here you go."

"Show me."

Ugh. Sasuke sounded so... so.. is evil the right word?

"First, let's see Rock here."

I leaned forward a bit. Ok, a whole lot until I was at the very front.

"He's one year older than you. Mission experience: 20 D-rank ones and 11 C-rank ones. Squad leader is Gai. His hand-to-hand combat skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention last year as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the Chuunin Exam. This is his first time taking it, like you. His team is composed of Tenten and Hyuuga Neji."

"Hyuuga Neji..." I whispered.

"Eh? Hyuuga?" Naruto said.

"Next, let's see Gaara of the Desert. Mission experience, eight C rank ones and... This is amazing! He did a B-rank mission as a Genin! He is a foreign ninja and it's his first time taking the exam, so I don't have any more information on him. But... It seems that he has returned from all of his missions unharmed."

I didn't see what was the biggy about that.

"He did a B-rank mission as a Genin, and was unharmed?" said Shikamaru. For once, he seemed astonished rather and annoyed or tired.

Oh. THAT.

"Who is he?" said Naruto.

I wasn't as surprised as everyone else was, but I'm not that smart either.

Kabuto took out another card.

"Konoha, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, and Sound. This year, many talented Genins from these hidden villages have come here to take the exam. The Hidden Village of Sound is a village of a small country that was just made recently, so I don't have much information on them." He put the card back in the stack. "Either way, all of them are powerful hidden villages."

I gazed at the huge crowd again.

Konoha. Sand. Rain. Grass. Waterfall. Sound. Might not sound like much, but if they can fill up this huge room...

"I'm starting to lose confidence..." said Hinata timidly. I punched her shoulder.

"Don't say that." I said.

"It's already too late to say that anyways!" scolded Ino.

"In other words, the examinees here are all..." worried Sakura.

"Right... It's not only Lee or Gaara. All the people here are top elites chosen from each country."

"Geez, why now? Why this one?" I complained.

"This isn't that easy."

Naruto was shaking in front of me. Looked like a seizure.

I was getting worried now. If they were the top elites of their country, and we were nothing but rookies... would anyone end up ... dead? I shuddered. Maybe deciding to do this exam wasn't a good idea. I should've found out more about it before doing it. And another thing is that Naruto must be afraid like hell too. I never saw him shaking that much from fear, ever! I noticed Sakura leaning towards him. Suddenly he shaked uncontrollably and pointed his finger at the crowd. I wondered what he was doing.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE TO ANY OF YOU! GOT THAT!" he shouted. I stood there... shocked. How could he...?

"NARUTO! YOU TOTAL MORON!" I screamed as I slugged him.


	31. First Chuunin Exam Begins

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 31  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I dont own Naruto. Not now, never will.**

**

* * *

**

He fell to the ground. Sitting up, he said proudly, "Ahh, saying that felt good. But Kaneshi ruined it for me." He evil glared at me. I evil glared back.

"Baka." I muttered. I was exhausted. I sat down too. All these heated stares from the whole crowd in this room was getting to me. Great job Naruto. I heard alot of murmuring. Definitely threats to us.

"'I'm not going to lose to any of you'? You talk big." smirked Kiba.

"That idiot. He just made everyone here his enemy." commented Shikamaru.

I buried my head into my arms. "Let him say what he wants. I'll just throw him to the dogs if they want him."

But Sakura already had him in a headlock and excusing him from them. "Everyone, it was a joke. He's a severe idiot, so... There's no need to take what a hasty idiot and a guy who gets carried away easily say seriously. Please don't worry about it." She started hitting on the head and yelling that it was his fault that everyone was glaring at her.

She's an idiot too. After all, she did create another scene.

Something caught my eye. I lifted my head. Some guy was about to punch Kabuto when he dodged it. I sighed in relief. A shard of glass from his glasses fell to the floor. So he didn't miss all the way. I caught a glimpse of his forehead protector. Hidden Village of Sound.

"I see, so that's the kind of attack it was." remarked Kabuto as he took off his glasses.

Sasuke moved forward. "What's going on? You definitely dodged it. Why did your glass..."

"It must have hit his nose. That's what happens for trying to look cool." sneered Shikamaru.

Idiots. "Can't you see their forehead protectors? They're from the Hidden Village of Sound. As in they attack with sound. So they don't need to physically contact you to hurt you." I said to them. "Right? Kabuto-san? Kabuto-san?"

I got up. Kabuto was throwing up on the ground. I didn't think it was that serious. Naruto and Sakura ran to help him.

"You're not as good as I thought for a veteran who took the exam four years running." said the guy that hurt him.

I couldn't believe it. They heard our conversation? Did everyone hear?

"Write this in your card... The three from the Hidden Village of Sound will definitely become Chuunins!"

Suddenly there a huge cloud of smoke. "QUIET DOWN! YOU PUNKS!" A group of higher ranked shinobis stood there. "I'm sorry I took so long. I am the examiner of the 1st test of the Chuunin Selection Exam, Morino Ibiki.

I grinned. It was finally time for the Chuunin Exam.


	32. Thirty Second Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 32  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I dont own Naruto. Not now, never will.**

**

* * *

**

"You three from the Hidden Village of Sound, don't think you can do anything you want before the exam. Do you want us to fail you already?" rebuked our examiner.

"I'm sorry. I was excited, since this is my first exam."

Liars.

"This is a good chance to say this... You are not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if the permission is given, you are not allowed to kill the other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately. Understood?"

I wouldn't be surprised if someone did go against him. I could feel the bloodthirsty murderers' intent filling up the room.

"This exam seems so soft and easy." jeered one of the sound ninjas.

"We will now begin the first exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written exams."

I went to turn in my application, only to crash into someone when I heard "A PAPER TEST!"

* * *

The adult shinobis sat on the wall in line with clipboards. I sat at the seat 25. It wasn't too far from the front. I didn't see anyone I knew anywhere in front of me. I looked at my row. No one. But I saw a glimpse of neon orange in the row behind. Naruto. I heard a tap on the blackboard. I turned around. 

"This First Exam has a few important rules. I will not accept any questions, so listen carefully. First rule is you all are given 10 points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your points will be reduced to 7. Second rule. The pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points."

"WAIT! Your team's total points? What!" argued Sakura. I was surprised I'd hear from Sakura during an exam.

"Shut up. There is a reason for this. Just shut up and listen. Now that you know, let's move on to the next rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or do something similar during the test... Each action will cause you to lose two points. In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are all trying to become Chuunins. If you are a ninja, act like a first-rate one. Also, if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail. The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins. You have one hour for the exam. Begin!"

I was so screwed. In school I used to be the master cheater but that was Iruka sensei. NOT a bunch of harsh looking ninjas with clipboards with their only goal to be catching cheaters. Flipping over the test paper I looked at the test. It shouldn't be that hard. We're only genins here.

Ok. Number one... Cipher the following. I can't do that. But that leaves 9 points for me! OK! Number two. The parabola, B, represents a shuriken's maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of 7 meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the ellipse formed by the shuriken, and figure out the maximum throwing distance on flat ground. Explain your reasoning. Well that leaves me 8 points! But that's still ok! Number 3!

AWW FORGET IT! I'M SCREWED. I banged my head on the table. I was going to get our team kicked out. I wouldn't be surprised if Naruto got a zero too. They're going to kill me. They're going to beat me up and leave me for dead. I'm sure they will! Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn. Wait a minute. I could still cheat. Cheat for my life. Yes. I'll do that! NO! NO I CAN'T DO THAT! But but but but. Ugh. If I cheat and don't get caught the team will pass. IF Naruto cheats too. But if I do get caught... then we'll fail. But if I don't cheat then we'll fail anyways. My head was throbbing. I looked at the clock. 30 MINUTES ALREADY PASSED? DAMN IT! I'M CHEATING! I banged the table. Everyone looked at me. This wasn't good.

Suddenly there was a bam and a guy stood up. He was caught cheating 5 times. His team left except for him. He seemed shocked. Soon a whole lot of people were called to cheat 5 times.

I can't cheat! I will never cheat! It's better to fail then be called out. Soon there was one guy that argued. He was pushed to the wall. I started tapping my pencil on the table fervishly. I didn't have a choice though. Wait a minute. I can do this! I can so do this! Taking a deap breath to relax me, I looked for a person that seemed done with their test. Guy in the row in front of me three seats down. OK! BYAKUGAN! Good. This is good. Very good. I started copying everything on his test. His answers sounded reasonable. I was going to pass this test!

"Number twenty f-" WAS HE CALLING ME? AM I THAT OBVIOUS? I froze. "our."

I sighed. It was the guy next to me. But it could've been me. I had all the answers written down now. It was almost at the 45 minute mark. I didn't have to worry about the tenth question. I looked back at Naruto. He was shaking. His stubborn self wouldn't let him cheat. He wouldn't have made it cheating either. I was worried.


	33. Beginning of Second Chuunin Exam

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 33  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Legaspo! I haven't been getting reviews. wah wah wah**

**oh well.**

**hehehe**

**i dont own naruto.**

**

* * *

**

"Looks like we dropped the incompetent ones. I will now give the problem, since 45 minutes have already passed. OK! I will now give the 10th problem! But before that, I must say. There will be one special rule for this last question." said Ibiki-san.

I was trembling. Damn it, it's ok. I have 9 points now. There's no problem. Suddenly I had an urge to look at Naruto. Ugh. It's Naruto who's the problem. The door opened.

"You're lucky. You're puppet show didn't have to go to waste. Oh, well sit down. I will now explain. This is... a hopeless rule."

I gulped. Hopeless? Is THIS the failing problem?

"First you are all going to choose if you want to take this tenth problem or not."

Choose? This has to be a fail or pass problem!

"Choose? So what happens if we don't take the tenth problem?" shouted some girl.

"Yeah! What's the catch!" I backed her up.

"If you choose not to take it, your points are reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail. Your other teammates will fail as well."

Well that's stupid. OF COURSE we'll take it. There was alot of jeering from the other genins.

"And here is the other rule. If you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will... Lose the privilege to take the Chuunin Exam forever."

I slammed the table. This was bullshit.

"What the hell! There should be those here who have taken the Chuunin Exam in the past!" argued Kiba.

"You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose to not take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that."

I kicked the table leg. What kind of exam was this? I can't cheat my way out of this. And seeing the difficulty of the test problems, this wasn't going to be any better.

"Let us begin. Those who will not be taking this tenth question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave."

I didn't know what to do. If I choose to quit the Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura fail with me. If I stay, I'll probably stay a genin forever. Damn this man. But I didn't want to be the first to quit right now.

Someone raised their hand. He stood up. "I quit! I won't take it!"

"Number 50 fail. Number 130 and 111, fail along with him."

"I'm sorry... Gennai, Inaho."

"Dammit! Me too." People everywhere started raising their hands.

I hesitated. Would they kill me if I quit now? I weakly raised my hand halfway when I saw that Naruto raised his. YES! I felt a pang of guiltiness, but he saved me. I watched him. Why weren't they calling out his number? Suddenly he slammed his hand down.

"SCREW YOU! I'M NOT GOING TO RUN AWAY! I'LL TAKE THIS PROBLEM! EVEN IF I BECOME A GENIN FOREVER, I'M GOING TO BECOME A HOKAGE NO MATTER WHAT ANYWAY! I'M NOT SCARED!"

I did feel a little anger to think that he said that for himself, but I couldn't help but grin. Naruto was full of surprises. But he was our Naruto.

"I will ask one more time. This is the choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit now, say it!"

"I'm not going to take back my words. That's My way of the Ninja."

I laughed. He brought my stubborn self back to me. I wasn't going to give up here.

"Nice determination. Then... For the First Exam, everyone here..."

I waited shaking. But it wasn't fear or worries that shaked me. I couldn't wait for the problem now.

"Everyone here... PASSES!"

I stopped shaking. What the hell?

"Wait, what's the meaning of that?" asked Sakura. "We pass already? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki-san laughed nervously. "There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question."

"HEY!" I turned around to see Temari. "So what were those previous nine problems! It was all a waste!"

"No it's not." Easy for him to say. "The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose to test each individual's information gathering skills."

The purpose to test each individual's information gathering skills. Ah. It dawned on me. I understood it now. This test was made to make us cheat.

"First, this test's purpose lies in the first rule... Your pass-fail decision is based on your three person teams. By giving that idea, we have given you an unprecedented amount of pressure to try and not be a nuisance to your team." Ending up with giving me a throbbing headache.

"Yes, yes, I was kind of sensing that in this test." bragged Naruto.

I slammed my head on the table. "LIAR!" I shouted at him, standing up and pointing.

"But these test problems cannot be solved by you Genins. So, most of the people here must have come to the conclusion... 'I have to cheat to get points.' In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat."

Amazing how he knew all this. Mastermind if you ask me.

"So, we snuck in two Chuunins who knew the answers to be targets of cheating."

This man... Wow. He had my highest respect. He knew everything that we'd feel, how we'd react, and how to put it all to the test.

"It was so obvious. It would be weird not to notice it." bragged Naruto, once again.

He's so stupid. Everyone can see through that act. But then again, he IS our Naruto after all.

"But those who just cheated like a fool failed, of course." He took off his forehead protector. I gasped. I gasped BIG TIME. "Why?" His head was filled with scars, wounds, it was sickening. "Information can have greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields... Information is contested with the lives of people."

His head had burns, screw holes and cuts everywhere. It was amazing that he'd even be alive right now.

"The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate." He put the protector back on. Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So, we made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those who were lacking in that field. That's what went on."

"But I still can't agree to that last question..." Boy did Temari talk alot.

"But this tenth question was the main question of this First Exam. Let me explain. The tenth question was a take or not take choice. Needless to say, it was a painful two-choice problem. Those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it, and could not answer it... Your right to take the exam would have been taken away forever. It was a very insincere problem. How about this two choice problem. Let's assume that you have become a Chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps that the enemy ninja have set up. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammates may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is... No. There are missions that carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your teammates when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation... That is what we look for in a Chuunin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation... Those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future... Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a Chuunin. That is what I believe. I am saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer for the difficult tenth question. You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The First Exam of the Chuunin Selection ends now. I wish you luck."

I had the goosebumps. Everything he said was true. With every mission there is a risk. From slight injuries to chance of death.

"ALL RIGHT! WISH US LUCK!"

I shook my head. That Naruto. He was on a rampage. I felt ashamed. I thought about giving up for my sake. But that's human nature right? Then I decided on doing that, but I spotted Naruto raising his hand, and I decided to land the blame on him instead of me. I am a horrible teammate.

Suddenly the window crashed open and I fell off my chair from the surprise. I saw alot of black cloth being pinned onto the ceiling by thrown shurikens. When it all cleared up, I saw this lady in some trenchcoat.

"Everybody, there's no time to be happy."

SECOND EXAMINER, MITARASHI ANKO IS HERE I read off the banner.

"I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Let's go to the next exam! Follow me!" She threw her fist up.

What the hell.

"Grasp the atmosphere." said Ibiki-san from behind the banner.

I laughed while jumping up. This one is exactly like Naruto. How interesting can this be.

"79? Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass? The First Exam must have been too soft."

"It looks like there are alot of excellent students this time."

"Oh, well... I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail in the next exam. I'm getting excited. I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin teachers about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed."

* * *

Forbidden Area. That's what the sign said on the chain link fence. We were gathered in front of a dark scary forest. How awesome is that.

"This is where the Second Exam will take place. The 44th training area... Also known as the Forest of Death."

"The Forest of Death." I murmured. There was ultimate silence among us. The wind blew our hair. Fear was creeping through everyone. I could tell. But me...

Ha! Bring It On.


	34. Filler

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 34  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I've been checking stats and i've been seeing people that put this story as their favorites or alert list but the number of people that have keeps changing and soon i cant even recognize the people that did earlier**

**im just being paranoid**

**hehehe**

**still not owning naruto. i give all credit to the writer of naruto.**

**

* * *

**

I stared into the depths of this 'Forest of Death'. I saw Naruto running past me. ... And a box running after him. I sweatdropped. This could only be Konohamaru. I wandered to the other side of the crowd, let's say mindlessly, and pretended to not know of this Konohamaru and Naruto. Looking back, I saw that bright flash of light and then those three big puffs of smoke, then all that coughing and distinctly heard, "Hey, you used too much gunpowder" and then them arguing with Naruto. Just like last time. Boy did they need to change their entrance style.

Soon I found myself between Sasuke and Sakura in the front. How did I end up here? Sighing I leaned to the side. It's amazing that I walked back the way I came from.

"What are you doing here?" asked Anko-san as she came walking up.

"Konohamaru wants to do an exclusive for his school newspaper or something."

My ears perked up. An exclusive huh?

"Oh, yes, I forgot that Hokage-sama mentioned something like that."She laughed nervously. Seriously, this Anko lady was EXACTLY like Naruto. It actually scared me. "ALL RIGHT! We're going to have a 10 minute break now. If you are asked any questions, just concede and cooperate quietly!"

Fine, I'm a bit selfish, but I kinda sorta wanted to be interviewed.

"Naruto, I'm counting on you." I dropped to the ground. Damn Konohamaru and his fan-ness.

"Fine, I'll tell you all the good things about me!" Don't ask me how it's possible but I dropped even lower. Damn Naruto and his love for himself.

**

* * *

**

Chapter of Rin, Character Introduction.

**

* * *

**

"First introduce yourself please."

"Okay. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am a ninja of the Hidden Village of Konoha. My hobby is to pull off pranks. I love ramen, and I became a genin just recently, but... I have a big dream. I'm going to become the Hokage. And I'm going become greater than any of the past Hokages... Then make all the villagers recognize my existence. In Ninja Academy, they called me dropout, moron, and other stuff, but... I was able to pass the graduation exam to become a member of Kakashi-sensei's 7th squad, and I do difficult missions everyday. Sasuke, Kaneshi, and Sakura-chan are in the 7th Squad, too. but I'm the only one who's active, so don't worry about them."

Yay. He mentioned me... er.. us. Wait a minute. "But I"m the only one who's active, so don't worry about them?" Nuh uh. He did NOT just say that.

"Don't say that. Introduce them too." I gave Konohamaru a piece of candy and patted him on the head.

"Good boy."

"I know, I know. Like, this guy is Uchiha Sasuke, a conceited kid. He's a survivor of the famous Uchiha clan. But he's really just a miserable guy, as you can see." I sweatdropped... Such compliments... "This girl is Tensake Kaneshi. She's a blonde. She freaks out on everything, so I have to help her out, and calm her down. Without me, she wouldn't be here by now." Naruto never learns does he. I cracked my knuckles. "This is the girl that's in love with me, Haruno Sakura-chan. They say that hating is part of love, so she won't say her real feelings; but that part of her is cute as well."

"Is that true?"

"Yes, yes, it's true."

Sakura cracked her knuckles as well.

"So it was a lie."

"Anyway, we work in a team of four, and the ONLY team of four, and have accomplished dangerous missions."

I grabbed his ear and hissed, "Chyea. D-rank missions that you screwed up on."

"Ow ow ow. Ok. There were times when I screwed up. But I defeated the old man Hokage..." He started reminiscencing.

"I CAN'T MAKE AN ARTICLE OUT OF THAT! Grandpa is the most important person in the Hidden Village of Konoham, and is the Third Hokage. To hold the name of Hokage means to be the number one ninja in the village. The Fourth Hokage, in particular, is a hero who protected the village from a monster fox."

"Wait wait wait! You're only talking about other people!" shouted Naruto.

"I was planning on saying more now! Besides, you talk about yourself too much." argued Konohamaru.

"OF COURSE! I'M THE MAIN CHARACTER SO I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OTHERS!"

"Naruto... You've forgotten about me ever since you graduated the academy, right?" sniffled Iruka-sensei.

I supported my head with my hand and looked down in shame. Sweatdropping I just wondered when I'd get my say in this exclusive.

"Anyways, you can introduce me right?" asked Iruka-sensei.

"All right all right! This person is the first person in the village to recognize me, Iruka-sensei!" I started wondering since when did Iruka-sensei get in here. I sighed. Whatever. This is a filler chapter anyways isnt it.

Might as well take a nap while I can. Big exam coming up.

Nightynight.


	35. Thirty Fifth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 35  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**lovin naruto**

**but dont own it.**

**

* * *

**

Where were we? Oh yes. We passed the first Chuunin Exam. And about to start the second exam. In Area 44. The Forest of Death. We had a break for 10 minutes for Naruto's big exclusive. I believe he had a fight with Sasuke and Sakura. Mainly Sasuke, but Sakura got in it somehow.

Waking up from my nap, I watched Naruto waving off the Konohamaru Corps. Don't ask me why I'm calling them that. It's easier than saying all their names. The exam was about to start. But we're ready. Kakashi sensei's Team 7 was ready. I punched the air with my fists.

Let's Go!

* * *

"Heh heh heh. You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death." said Anko san in a scary voice. 

"You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death." mocked Naruto as he did some freaky dance. We looked down in shame. "There's no point in trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

He did have a point. I guess the thing that made him sound pointless was the fact that he danced.

"Really? You sure are energetic." beamed Anko. She's pretty nice. That's what I was thinking until a shuriken flew past me. She appeared behind Naruto. "Boys like you die the fastest. After spilling out that red blood I love all over the place." She whispered. She was taking out a shuriken when some guy gave her back her other shuriken. With his tongue.

"OOOOUEEEEECCCCCCCK." I supported myself on a tree as I threw up multiple times. Hinata patted my back asking me if I was okay.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." I gasped out. I was definitely going to stay away from that guy. Disgusting.

"It looks like there are alot of hot-headed people here today. Ha. This is going to be interesting."

I felt queasy. Seeing people like her and the long tongue guy made me realize exactly what I was facing here. I saw a sign.

Warning: You may die.

That was exactly what I was thinking. Anko-san walked away. "Before we begin the Second Exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone. These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."

"Why?"

"From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, I'd be held responsible." She laughed.

Why the hell did I decide to take this exam. My heart was pretty much bursting from all the nervousness that overflowed me suddenly.

"Now, I will begin the explanation of the Second Exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match." I crossed my fingers. For the best, the only thing I could hope for is my survival. Sasuke passed me a form. "I'll explain the training area's geographical features. The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of... A competition where anything goes... Over these scrolls." She took out two scrolls. "The Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of the Earth. You will fight over these scrolls. 26 teams in total passed the First Exam. Half of these teams will get the Scroll of Heaven. The other half will get the Scroll of the Earth. Each team will get one of these. Simply, you have to fight over these."

I sweatdropped. She said the same things over and over again.

"In other words, the 13 teams, or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail." confirmed Sakura.

"WE GET IT. It's not that hard! You don't have to repeat she said again and again." I shouted. I am pissed off.

"Hold up. I still didn't say something. You need to do all this within a time limit. This second exam has a limit of 120 hours. Or exactly five days."

"FIVE DAYS?" shouted Ino.

"WHAT ABOUT FOOD!" Chouji shouted even louder.

"SCROUNGE IT YOURSELF! The forest is a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food." shouted Anko-san a whole lot louder than that.

It's amazing that people's voices aren't limited.

"However, there are a lot man-eating beasts, poison bugs, and poisonous plants." said Kabuto san.

Chouji groaned. I groaned. We should all groan. I'm not a good plant type person. If I don't get killed, I'm going to get food poisoning. And then get killed.

"Also, it is not possible for 13 teams, or 39 people, to pass." said Neji calmly.

"Ahem40ahem." I cleared my throat.

"As time passes, you will be required to move more. So, the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough." grinned Rock Lee.

Stupid. Don't grin when you're saying something bad.

"And we're surrounded by enemies. We won't be able to sleep in peace." added Sasuke.

Geez, people everywhere just have to point out the bad things.

"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll, and those who cannot bear this program's strictness will emerge, as well." said Anko-san.

"Excuse me, can we quit in between?" asked Shikamaru.

"As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend the five days in the forest, While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will fail you. First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with the three or four teammates will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note... You are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower."

I didn't understand.

"And if you do... ?" I asked.

"That's a surprise you'll see when you look at it."

That scared me. Alot.

"If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That's it for the explanation." She pointed towards a booth. "And after picking your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time." She groaned. "Here's a last piece of advice. DON'T DIE!"

I stood up straighter. I can't die. I will not die.

* * *

I read the consent form over and over again, while walking. I still dont understand. The difficulty of this exam was very high depending on how you took it. If you just went quietly and made someone surrender and walk the rest of the way to the tower, that's very simple. But if we straight on attacked someone, there was a high chance we would lose. And five days. 10 kilometers to walk in 5 days. That didn't sound hard.

I tripped over someone's leg. A sharp rock grazed my cheek.

"Hn. You moron. You're just as dumb as Naruto." I looked up from the ground. There was Sasuke. Really. You'd think he'd think of a better insult.

I opened my mouth to insult him back when someone from the booth called that it was time to trade our forms for a scroll.

"Better luck next time." I muttered.

* * *

Naruto grinned as he passed our consent forms to the guy. I stood behind Sakura. I didn't want to be by Sasuke. He might be a genius and hot but he's a jerk.

"If you have received a scroll, follow the person in charge and move to your designated gates. We will begin in 30 minutes!"

My skin tingled. If I had chosen not to take the exam would Sakura and Naruto have killed me? I squinted at the bright sun.

* * *

12

That was our gate number. I zoned out looking into the forest. My mouth was hanging down, wide open. It seemed so BIG.

"We'll beat those who get near us first!"

I sighed. Well, Naruto has the energy for both of us. I can't help but wonder where everyone else was starting. I certainly dont hope for us to have to battle it out with one of the rookie ten.

"ALL RIGHT! The Chuunin Exam begins NOW!"

* * *

The gates flung wide open.

We walked in. And we kept walking straight. Or aimlessly. I can't tell.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Birds fled out of the trees. I turned and looked around. It already started?

"That was someone's scream, right?" asked Sakura.

"I-I-I th-think it was." I stuttered. I held onto someone and I held onto them tight. I was seriously scared.

"It's nothing, Sakura-chan!" assured Naruto.

I didn't believe him.

"Let go Kaneshi. Baka." I turned to see who said that to me. I sweatdropped. Sasuke. I quickly let go and pretended nothing happened. I whistled casually.

It was an awkward silence.

"I need to pee." and Naruto rushed off to a nearby tree. He unzipped his pants when Sakura punched him on the head.

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO IN FRONT OF A LADY! GO BEHIND THE GRASS!" screamed Sakura.

I couldn't help but laugh. We were still on that life or death exam and they were already fighting and it was about potty rules too. Hahahaha.

But it was a fake laugh. I wasn't overridden with humor and glee.

Naruto came out of the bushes. "I peed a lot!" He exclaimed.

"LIKE I SAID, DON'T SAY SUCH A THING IN FRONT OF A LADY...!

I didn't get the Naruto vibe from him. There was something wrong.

Sasuke leaped and kicked him hard. Shocking. Well, not that shocking, knowing their relationship.

"Sasuke-kun! You didn't have to go that far!" gasped Sakura.

"Wait, Sakura. There's something wrong here." I held up my hand and took out my kunai.

"WELL OF COURSE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG!" shouted Sakura.

"Why the hell did you do that?" asked Naruto in a threatening way. Sasuke kicked him again. And again. Naruto crashlanded onto the ground. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What, you ask? That's my line!" said Sasuke.

There was something wrong with Naruto here. Something.. I couldn't get a hold of it. "SASUKE-KUN! PLEASE STOP IT!" shouted Sakura as she moved forward. I held her back.

The wound. The wound that he had when he was attacked by Anko-san. That's what was missing. Sasuke and Naruto went into a series of attacks with their kunai.

"Sakura! Look at him closely." commanded Sasuke.

"He's right Sakura! This isn't Naruto!" I shouted.

"Spill it! Where's the real Naruto?" yelled Sasuke.

"What?" asked the fake Naruto.

"What happened to the wound on your face!"

"Sakura! Do you get it now? The wound that he had from Anko-san is missing!" I told Sakura.

"I'm asking you, what happened to the wound the Examiner made on your face? Also, your shuriken holster in on your left leg. He's right handed. You're even worse than Naruto at transforming. You fake loser."

I was amazed. I didn't notice all that. Naruto poofed.

"How unlucky. I guess I have no choice since you found out. Which one of you has the scroll?" Didn't Naruto have the scroll? "If you give it up quietly, I'll spare your lives." We didn't say a word. "I see. I have to use force now!" He raced towards us.

My heart was racing. Where was Naruto?


	36. Thirty Sixth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 36  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**lovin naruto**

**but dont own it.**

**

* * *

**

Suddenly Sasuke jumped and breathed out fireballs.

"Sakura! Stay here!" This was the time to find Naruto. I jumped onto a tree branch. Calming myself down, I looked everywhere. There was no sign of him. I folded my hands together. Byakugan! I saw Sasuke and that weird guy fighting. I couldn't see him. Wait. There! There there there! I jumped through the trees to the opening where Naruto was.

"Kaneshi! I'm tied up! I can't get out!" shouted Naruto. I fumbled with my kunai and couldn't get the rope to cut. Damn it!

"Naruto! Will you stay still!" There was an explosion overhead. I panicked but at that moment I finally got it cut. "YES! Wait! Hey! Where are you going?" Naruto went somewhere else. I was all alone now. Damn them all. I followed in the direction that Naruto went. I heard shouting when suddenly a kunai flew past me. It cut my cheek. That got me fuckin mad.

I saw that weird guy and Sasuke coming towards me. I snatched my kunai and threw it at the guy. It stabbed him in the back. "THAT'S RIGHT! DON'T YOU MESS WITH ME!" But in my time of bragging I crashed into Sasuke and we both began to fall down really fast. I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the crash. It never came. Looking up I saw that Sasuke had held onto a vine and grabbed me.

"Stupid. You're even worser than Sakura."

"Damn it Sasuke! What's all this about being stupider than Naruto, worser than Sakura. Worser? Is worser even a word? Well, who cares. You're really being a jerk, Sasuke. Just let go. Let go of me now!"

He let go. I sweatdropped. I wasn't expecting that. I screamed like a mother, but I jumped to a nearby tree and landed on my feet. Sasuke dropped down without saying a word. My anger went away. Did I really hurt his feelings? I didn't think I would since he's a GUY. Naruto walked over with Sakura.

"We heard ALOT of screaming. Is something wrong between you two? Are you guys having a fight?" asked Naruto.

I felt really stupid now. I probably did hurt Sasuke and all that yelling probably meant that everyone heard us and know where to find us now.

"No. Kaneshi was just being stupid and yelling about something that I couldn't understand." answered Sasuke.

I sweatdropped. Damn Sasuke. I swear.

"All right. Let's have a meeting here. " said Sasuke. "If we get separated, and you meet anyone even if it's one of us, don't trust them. There's the possibility an enemy is using Henge like just now."

"Then what should we do?" asked Sakura.

"We'll make a code phrase. Listen... If they get the code phrase wrong, assume they're the enemy, no matter what they look like. Listen carefully. I'll say it only once. The ninja song, 'Ninki'... When this is asked, answer with... A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi. Hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time: when the enemy is tired and ill prepared. That's it."

"Okay." nodded Sakura.

I dont think I got it all. A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi. Uhhhhhh. Remain silent. Something about understanding time and enemy being tired.

"Can you say it again?" asked Naruto.

I sighed. What were we going to do.

"I said only once."

"You couldn't memorize it? I memorized it instantly." rebuked Sakura.

"Of course I memorized it too! I was thinking I'd ask for one more time just in case..."

"Liar" I scoffed.

Sasuke stood up. "I'll hold the scroll."

"Hey, wait, Sasuke! Oww!" said Naruto. He looked to the right. I looked there too. There was a gradual wind noise. Suddenly a huge wind current blasted us. I couldn't see. Dust and dirt were getting into my eyes. Tears started coming up. Man, we just had a fight. I didn't want another one right now. I immediately jumped to the side and watched from overhead.

Just as suddenly the wind disappeared and the sand disappeared too. In the midst of it there were three people.

"You two play over there. I'll take care of them myself." said the middle one.

I looked for the rest of my team. They weren't here. Shit. First I'm alone, then if I find them and I don't know the code phrase they'll attack me. But the bigger problem is to find them. I looked back to the clearing. "Aah!" I gave a soft scream. There was a huge snake. I backed away only to realize that I was on a tree branch and I started falling. "Aaaaaaahhhh!" I gave a louder scream now. I heard my body thud onto the ground. I tried to get up. But my shoulder was too weak. I tried to get up again. I couldn't stand up straight, so I supported myself with the tree trunk.

I never saw a snake that big. I hate snakes. I had to find them. I stumbled my way back to the clearing. I heard screams. They sounded alot like Naruto. But it couldn't have been him. It can't be! Because it was coming from the stomach! I threw up again. I had to save Naruto. I tripped. I sat there on my knees for a while. Thinking over these things. How was I going to find them. How was I going to save Naruto. Where are they. Damn it! I never said this much damns in my life! I lifted one leg. It took alot of strength from me. Fear had taken over my body.

There was a whistling noise. My eyes largened and I snapped back into action. I jumped away, taking out a kunai. Another kunai landed where I was. Looking up, there were those other two that had appeared just then. Shit. I was in a big mess.


	37. Thirty Seventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 37  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**i can tell that alot of people read this but dont review**

**mmhmm **

**i caught ya.**

**heh heh heh**

**still lovin naruto but still not owning it.**

**

* * *

**

"Heh heh heh. He told us to play over here, and look what we found. A toy." sneered one of them.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit. I can't take two of them on my own. They threw more kunais at me. I dodged them all. They kept throwing them at me. I kept dodging. I didn't dare attack them. All I wanted to do was run away. In the middle of a dodge I turned around and I started to run.

"HA! You can't run from us!"

But that was the only thing I could do. Suddenly a shuriken caught me in the back. I fell onto the ground. Damn. I threw up more except this time it was blood. I hurriedly crawled behind a tree. This wasn't the greatest escape but it was the only thing left to do. I heard them coming. I was breathing heavily. I felt my way to the shuriken on my back. Biting my lip, I took it out. I whimpered softly. Tears were flowing from the pain.

"We found you." Someone whispered into my ear. I gasped and jumped up. I wiped away my tears. I wasn't gonna let them see that I was crying. They both came to attack me. I tried to block them both, but they still got past that. My blood was splattered everywhere. Suddenly they stabbed me in the leg with a kunai and jumped back. I fell on to my knees. I spit out more blood. There was something stinging me on the leg besides the kunai. I looked down.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I tore the note off and threw it into the air. But not soon enough. The exploding note blew up.

* * *

I came to. I heard footsteps walking towards me. They grabbed the kunai out of my leg. I shook from the pain. I could feel my blood coming out profusely.

"Oh? So she's still alive? She's better than I thought."

"Really? I was hoping that the fun would last longer. I guess it will."

My shaking graduatlly stopped. I could only breathe very heavily now. I tried to get my kunai from my pouch but one of them stepped on my hand. They both started insulting me, as they dragged me to a more closed spot. Move. Move. Move! But my body wouldn't listen to me.

"It's so sad that your friends wont get to see you, one last time. But the good thing is, you'll get to see them soon. If you get my drift."

I whimpered out loud. He meant he was going to kill me. I saw their faces again floating in my head. And Kakashi sensei. I saw everyone. Even that Hyuuga. I didn't want to die. I couldn't even get the chance to show Neji who's boss. Or beat Sasuke. And Naruto. That's right... Naruto. I didn't get to save him. My fear slowly slipped away. And anger took its place. Damn this exam. Damn this forest. Damn these two. I can't die here. Not yet. I got up slowly while they weren't looking. This anger was something I never felt before. Something I can't describe.

There was a huge explosion.

* * *

I was jumping through the trees. I had to find Sasuke and Sakura first. I couldn't help but think back on what I just did. My lips trembled. I didn't think I could do that. I didn't want to do that. I was a monster.

I could feel their blood on me drying up. NO! I pushed all thoughts of that out. I wasn't watching where I was going and I crashed into a tree. I dropped down. I buried my head into my hands and started sobbing. I killed them. And it wasn't just kill. I mutilated their bodies in the process. I shivered. Even I was afraid of myself. What I did, what I could do... I had flashbacks of the first time I did something like this. No. That never happened. I didn't do that.

* * *

All I could hear was my breathing. Everything else was silent. That explosion... the explosion... what I did... why could I do a thing like that? My chakra had exploded on them. It didn't just cut them like a kunai. It tore off their limbs and blew up their bodies from the inside. Those images were running in my head. I saw a flock of birds fly out the trees.

That's right. I still had to get back with them. I have to shake this off. I did it, but I can stop myself from doing it again. I got back up and used byakugan. I could see them. There was a huge snake and Naruto was there too. I started jumping towards them. I was right there when the snake hit Naruto with his tail hard. I came to them.

"NARUTOO!" I screamed.

Naruto was falling down. I wanted to catch him, but something held me back. He opened his eyes. They were red. He shouted "Damn it!" and kicked the snake. He started punching the snake uncontrollably.

I didn't know he was this strong.

The guy he was fighting against breathed out something red. Naruto started crashing down again. He laid on the last branch, very still. I gasped.

"Sasuke-kun! How will you fight!"

I started jumping down to Naruto. When he jumped past me. Just passing me and not even touching me burned. There was something around him that was scary.

I rebounded and starting going up. I breathed in sharply as I saw the sight. Naruto had stopped the snake from getting to Sasuke.. with his bare hands. What were they doing. I stopped at the branch right below from them.

Suddenly a tongue wrapped around Naruto and lifted him up.

"What? Let go! You snake bastard!" shouted Naruto.

I froze. It was that long tongue guy. That creepy dude. But I didn't throw up this time. It was long past time for that. His fingers started to burn purple. He punched Naruto with that hand.

I stared with huge eyes. My heart was beating crazy. I heard Sakura scream "Sasuke-kun! Please help Naruto...!"

Naruto went limp. He was thrown back. Sakura threw a kunai to hold him to the tree so he wouldn't fall. I jumped towards him and took off the kunai and took him to the ground. I looked up. Sasuke... He was just standing there trembling. It made me furious.

"SASUKE!" I shouted at him. "YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ME BEFORE! YOU TOLD ME THAT I WAS STUPIDER THAN NARUTO, WORSER THAN SAKURA. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS? YOU MIGHT BE THE GENIUS OF THE ROOKIES, BUT YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN NARUTO OR SAKURA COMBINED!"

My voice echoed across the forest. Sasuke opened his eyes. Sharingan... The snake disappeared.


	38. Thirty Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 38  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**oh my gosh. im so paranoid its scary! **

**RED ALERT RED ALERT**

**THEY INFILTRATED MY STORY**

**ARGH**

**CODE RED CODE RED**

**RETREAT RETREAT**

**I DONT OWN NARUTO! STAY BACK! I DONT OWN IT! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH**

**heh heh heh**

**other than that, i am taking up offers for a new pen name. i decided mine was getting old.**

**

* * *

**

Sakura was shouting something. I thought I saw Naruto move or at least twitch, but he didn't. Sasuke took out his kunai and put it in his mouth and started running towards him. They started attacking each other hand to hand. I couldn't keep track of anything, they were so fast. Suddenly Sasuke did his little fire breath thing again. There was some huge fire tornado then it vanished and they both disappeared.

"Sakura! Hello? SAKURA!" I couldn't see her. And she's not answering back. Oh my gosh. I picked up Naruto and put him over my back. He was fuckin heavy, man, even I'm not this heavy. I grunted and jumped away only to fall back when a huge explosion of fire went past me. I rebounded off another tree and kept going straight towards the burning tree with a huge hole going through the center. When I got there I silently perched on a high branch and laid Naruto down there.

I was breathing heavily. The wound on my back was going crazy. Damn Naruto and his weight.

"I'm impressed that you can use your Sharingan so well at your age. You live up to the name of Uchiha."

Looking down, I saw Sakura straining herself from kneeling down and Sasuke, also, was fighting back from some kind of body control.

"I want you after all."

I left Naruto and jumped down, quietly.

"You two are definitely brothers, Your eyes say that you carry more potential than Itachi."

"Who are you!" gasped Sasuke.

"My name is Orochimaru."

Images of pain and torture in dark rooms came into my mind. Babies screaming and crying.

"If you wish to see me again, get through this Exam as if your life depended on it."

I pushed those images out of my head.

"In other words, you'll have to defeat my subordinates, the three Sound ninja."

What?

"What are you talking about! We never want to see your face again!" shouted Sakura.

I crouched down and held onto the treebranch..

"It doesn't work that way."

I jumped down, gripping tight onto my kunai, shouting some war cry that I didn't intend to yell. But before I landed on him, his neck stretched an extreme length all the way over to Sasuke. I stopped short from the horror attack that gave me and landed on the ground.

"What did you do to Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura. Looking over I saw Sasuke holding onto his neck tightly, on the ground.

"I gave him a little present. Sasuke-kun will seek me. He will seek me for power."

I saw this as the chance to stab him now. I took my kunai and was about to strike him, when he started to melt into the ground. I dropped the knife and crawled back.

"It was fun being able to see a lot of your moves." I watched him in horror as he slowly melted in, and I saw his ripped face.

Sakura ran over to Sasuke and started asking him if he was ok. He was shaking on the ground.

"Sakura! Is he okay!" I called over. I knew that was the most stupidest question.

Sasuke yelled out in pain.

"NO! There's something terribly wrong with him!" answered back Sakura. She said it with a tearfilled shaky voice. I went back to Naruto and picked him up and jumped down to the ground. "Kaneshi! Sasuke! He- he- he!"

I knew it would probably pain Naruto in the future, but I threw him over to Sakura, and ran there. She was holding Sasuke.

"Kaneshi... What-What should we do?" She asked me.

Crows flew up into the red sky.

The silence after that was killing me.

"I.. I don't know, Sakura-chan..." I whispered. Tears were streaming down her face. I took a deep breath and smiled. "But let's set up camp." I was hoping it would give at least a little bit of hope and courage to her.

* * *

It was night now. I was standing guard outside.

"Kaneshi, his breathing is going back to normal, but he still has a high fever."

"Sakura-chan. Don't worry. If his breathing went back to normal, then it shouldn't be a dangerous fever."

But I went inside to take a look anyway. No matter what, we had to protect them. They were in no condition to fight. I pressed two fingers onto Sasuke's neck. As soon as I touched him, it burned me, and I flinched.

"His heart rate is normal. He'll be fine." I reassured her, but that burning feeling wasn't good. Leaning, I took a closer look at this bite mark that Sakura told me about. It looked so unnatural.

And there was something about it that made me feel like I saw it before.

"Kaneshi! You're bleeding!" gasped Sakura. She reached for my back. I quickly slapped her hand away.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather you not touch it." Cause it stings like a mother if you do. But I only said the first part. "You go and have a rest, I'll watch over them tonight."

She nodded her head.

* * *

I stood watch for 3 hours, when the sunshine began to peek through the leaves. I started nodding off.

NO I have to stay awake. Suddenly I heard Sakura scream behind me.


	39. Thirty Ninth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 39****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I don't own Naruto. And to make things clear, this is technically the 39th chapter. **

**I suppose I should explain my absence. Hmmmm. I just didn't feel like writing. Heh heh heh. Muahahahahahaha. **

**

* * *

**

"What is it!" I shouted over to her while I ran over. Sakura sighed and scratched her head while giggling nervously.

"Heh heh heh... It was just a chipmunk..."

"UGH!" I gave a huge groan. "Well it's your turn to watch. I'm tired as hell."

Suddenly she threw a kunai at my feet. I jumped back and took out my own kunai. The chipmunk ran away. Was this the real Sakura or no? She wouldn't just attack me like that!

"Get back Kaneshi. Watch over them and I'll stand guard."

"B-B-But..." I stammered. I didn't see why I was arguing. Sakura looked exhausted. She must've stayed awake the whole night...

I resolved to do that same thing. If she could do it, then I can do it.

"Been staying up all night watching over them. That wont be necessary anymore..."

I snapped my neck while I turned my head to see those people talking.

"Wake up Sasuke-kun."

It was those Sound ninjas.

"We want to fight him."

Taking my kunai out, I had it at the ready.

"Pfft. Stupid. So that kunai was to prevent that squirrel from setting off the trap. Kill them."

"NOW KANESHI!"

I threw the kunai towards the gleaming iron string. A booming crash set off our own trap. But suddenly there was another crash and our log exploded. Color drained from my skin.

"Frankly speaking, you have no talent. People like you have to work harder.

'Shit. Tiger Dragon Boar Ox' I quickly formed those 4 handseals and pressed my hand into the ground. An enormous amount of chakra expanded into a temporary barrier around us. The Sound ninjas were deflected.

"Leaf Spinning Wind!" This voice sounded familiar. Sand and leaves swirled around us as my shield dissolved. "Then, you guys should also work harder."

"Who are you?"

"The beautiful green beast of the Hidden Leaf. Rock Lee!"

Just as I expected.

"Why are you here..?" asked Sakura.

"I will... always appear when you're in a pinch. It's actually thanks to you. Now, go." He let down a squirrel who seemed oddly familiar.

"But right now I'm an enemy to you..."

"I said it before. That I will protect you until I die."

She gasped. "Thank you."

He started crying now.

I sweatdropped. "NANI NANI! IS THIS SOME ROMANCE NOVEL THAT SENSEI READS?!" I cried out.

"Oh well. Zaku, you handle Sasuke. I'll kill them."

Sakura suddenly threw a kunai at him, which missed terribly. Lee dug into the ground and brought out a huge tree root, blocking him. I rounded it off with a landing kick. But he blocked me with his arms. It took several seconds before the cracking of my bones could be felt. I let out a silent scream. Trying to land in a more painless position, I stumbled and splintered my leg.

"There's some trick to your attacks right? I can't just dodge them." I dimly heard Lee say.

This pain was unendurable. I tenderly felt my leg. It didn't look like it was injured.

"THIS IS FOR A PRECIOUS PERSON!" Lee shouted. He vanished and kicked the enemy up, then held him tightly and shot down. "INITIAL LOTUS!" My eyes widened, this was an unbelievable feat. Though he did fail.

"What a terrifying attack. So much damage even if there was a sponge of dirt. Now it's my turn!"

I flinched. Jolts of pain was coming constantly. That sound ninja aimed a punch at Lee, but missed. Yet, Lee was cringing.

"I'll show you a wall that even hard workers can't get passed through.


	40. Fortieth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 40****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**This morning I encountered a singing duo that couldn't sing. Ahahaha**

**

* * *

**

"Go for it Chouji!"

"OK! BAIKA NO JUTSU!" He widened up until he was a huge ball of blubber. "Konoha Style hand-to-hand Combat! Meat Tank!" He withdrew his head, arms and legs, and chakra came spewing out as he started rolling in the air. Then he landed and rolled to Zaku in max speed.

"What's this? It's just a fat ass! Air Cutter!" Zaku unleashed his air streams from his hands, but it had no affect on Chouji. It was just preventing him from getting any farther. "Why you!" The air speed gradually grew faster and faster, but instead, Chouji just flew up, about to crash down on him from air.

That evil girl broke loose from my hold and ran over to their side, as that other Sound ninja ran to help Zaku.

"Ninpou, Kage Mane no Jutsu!"

A black line streaked across the ground and the sound ninja stopped in his tracks. "My body... !"

Chouji landed with a big bang, but Zaku had dodged him.

"DOSU! What are you doing?!" cried that girl. Looking back over at the so-his-name-was-Dosu, I sweatdropped. If Shikamaru was going to control him with his shadow, why a monkey position?

"Ino, now it's up to you women."

My face twitched. Women.. ? Sexist sexist sexist.

"Okay. Shikamaru, take care of my body."

"Sure."

"Ninpou, Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

"Kin!"

It really was nice, learning all their names.

"This is it." said Kin. "If you move, this Kin girl is dead. If you don't want to retire here, leave your scroll and get out of here. Once you two back off far enough where we can't sense your Chakra, I'll let this girl go."

This was very surprising. Their team, or also known as the only team worse than our team, had some very talented skills. As shown while they were saving our lives.

The other two smirked.

"CHOUJI!"

"So they're trying to.. !" Chouji was rolling towards Kin, but was blown away along with her by Zaku's air streams.

"What's wrong with them? They hurt their own teammate." said Kin/Ino.

"You take us too lightly." Zaku sneered.

"Our purpose is not a dumb scroll or to get through this exam."

Everyone went "WHAT?!"

"It's Sasuke-kun."

Looking back again, Sasuke was surrounded by a burning purple atmosphere. Shikamaru's shadow shrank back to him.

"I see your shadow bind technique can only last for 5 minutes at most." remarked Dosu.

"It's not Shadow Bind, it's Shadow Imitation!" corrected Shikamaru.

"And that girl's technique... It seems that she is able to slip into another person's mind and take control of the body. Seeing that blood from her mouth, it looks like that if we kill Kin, that girl will die, too."

"You're going to kill a teammate?"

"If we have to, yes." said Zaku, while raising his hand at Kin, threateningly.

"This is over."

"Damn it." groaned Chouji.

"Close. You almost had us." Zaku congratulated them.

"You let your guard down. How disgusting." I cringed. "A mere minor Sound ninja..." This could only be... "Acting like victors by beating those second-class ninja?"

"WHY YOU!" shouted the sound ninjas and me.

"They're from Lee-san's team." said Sakura.

"Lee..." gasped the girl in pink.

"It looks like he screwed up."

"You guys just keep coming out like roaches." jeered Dosu.

"That bobbed hair kid there is on our team. Looks like you went overboard with him!" yelled Neji angrily. His eyes had gone Byakugan. Living hell for all of us, if he wasn't on our side. "If you're going to continue to fight, we will fight with everything we have!" He gave a look of surprise while his eyes went back to normal.

"What is it Neji?" The pink girl asked.

"This chakra..."

"If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here." Something I would've liked to say.

"No, it seems that there's no need for me to do that." He calmly said.

There it was again. That dark purple atmosphere, but it seemed to have gone up by a mile.

"Sasuke..." I whispered.

"Sasuke-kun! You woke up...?" enthusiazied Sakura.

* * *

**Enthusiazied - I'm not sure if it's a word or not, but for safety precautions, it means enthusiasticly said.**

**

* * *

**

Sasuke had stood up. The dark aura swirling around him. We all watched, frozen in fear. Half of his body burned red. Whatever this was, we had to stop him.

"Sakura..." he said. "Who did that to you...?" Every word he said, sent shivers up my spine.

"Sasuke-kun... Your body."

He looked down at his hand. "Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel power surging inside me. I'm feeling good right now.


	41. Forty Onesie Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 41****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**Band sure is a bummer.**

**

* * *

**

This was leading to bad things.

"I'm feeling good right now." Sasuke said calmly. "He gave it to me. I finally understand now. I'm an avenger. I must obtain power no matter what, even if I must let the devil take hold of my body."

For some reason, I actually wasn't surprised that he would say that. Shocked, but not unexpected.

"Sakura, say it! Who the hell hurt you?!"

"I DID!" Zaku proudly claimed.

He is truly an idiot.

"INO! YOU'RE GOING TO GET CONFUSED AS THE ENEMY LIKE THAT! RETURN TO YOUR OWN BODY! CHOUJI! YOU COME HERE TOO AND HIDE!" Shikamaru shouted. At least someone was smart.

Taking action, I scooted over to Sakura and dragged her out of the way. This Sasuke was, one, scary, two, dangerous, three, not to be messed with. The marks on his skin burned and covered more of his body. Chakra was pulsing all around him. I've never seen anything like this before.

"Dosu! Don't be afraid of that half-dead guy!"

"No, stop, Zaku! Don't you understand?!"

"I'll kill them all with this! I'll finish this in a flash!" Zaku raised his arms and opened his hands. "Maximum Aircutter!"

Air striked us, along with pebbles and sand. Grazing our skin, I tried to block it. Someone grabbed and moved us.

"Heh. They blew up into pieces."

"Who did?" Sasuke had his fist raised and punched him away.

"Zaku!"

I watched with my mouth open. He had moved in a flash while carrying his whole team.

"Katon Housenka!" Fire exploded out of his mouth.

"Don't get so cocky! I'll erase it!" Zaku used his air streams, ridding the fire but in the midst of those fireballs were shurikens. They cut him away.

"Zaku! Watch out!"

Sasuke had zoomed in on him from below. He grabbed his arms and pushed his leg onto his back. "You seem to be proud of your arms." Zaku's look of pain and Sasuke's sinister smile was too much for me. Sasuke started pushing his leg even harder.

"Stop it!" he cried.

A crack was heard. Zaku screamed. He laid there trembling on the ground.

"That leaves just you." said Sasuke. "You better entertain me better than him."

I shivered. If he kept going on like this, there would be a massacre. That quiet, arrogant Sasuke was here with killing intent. This couldn't be truly Sasuke.

"Sa-Sa-Sasuke!!!" I screamed. Reaching out my arm to stop him.

"STOP SASUKE!" shrieked Sakura. She ran over and wrapped her arms around him. "Please... stop..." His marks burned again but was disappearing, or rather was absorbed back into the bite mark. They both fell down.

"Sasuke-kun, we cannot defeat you. Let's make a deal. Please let us leave for now. We might be asking for too much, but we have something to confirm. In exchange, let me promise this. If we are to fight each other in this exam for the second time... We will not run or hide." He started to walk away, carrying Kin and Zaku.

"Wait! Who is Orochimaru?! What did he do to Sasuke-kun?!" demanded Sakura. "Why Sasuke-kun?!"

"I do not know. We were just ordered to kill Sasuke-kun." He disappeared into the woods.

"OY! Are you guys okay? It's troublesome, Ino, but you take care of that Lee guy." Shikamaru ordered. His team ran out to help us.

"Sakura watch out! Don't worry, I'll protect you." mumbled Naruto.

"What should we do with him?" sighed Shikamaru. "Should we kick him awake?"

"Can I do that then?" said Chouji.

I started crying. Chouji hit Naruto with a stick and he woke up screaming.

"Eh... Why are you crying? Really, women are troublesome.." asked Shikamaru.

Suddenly Naruto jumped up then jumped down. "EVERYONE HIDE! NO! GET DOWN! Where is he, damn it..."

"Naruto.." said Sakura. Her and Sasuke both turned around.

I started wailing and slumped down and cried on Naruto's back.

"K-Kaneshi-chan! What are you doing?"

"N-N-N-N-N-N-Naruto! S-S-S-Sasuke, h-he--"

"Kaneshi!" Sasuke cut me off. He laid his hands on my shoulders. "We'll talk about this later."

I felt something poking me. Sniffling, I looked up and saw Chouji. "You guys are pretty dumb, aren't you?"

"Actually, watching you two pisses me off." muttered Shikamaru.

I stood up and stretched. After sobbing like that, I felt mentally refreshed. "Ah, Shikamaru. You should be honored, because I feel the same way about you." I put him into a headlock.

"Troublesome woman! Let go!"

"Troublesome, troublesome, troublesome! Is that all you can say? How about annoying or pain in the ass. And you know, I'm older than you. You should be calling me senpai. Ahahahahahahahaha!" I gave him a noogie. Maybe this would lighten the mood here. He escaped from my arms and joined Chouji, while combing his hair back into its straight and sleek tie.

"By the way, what happened while I was out?" Naruto asked.

"Explaining it to you is too troublesome for me."

"Everyone helped us." Sakura answered.

The pink girl shot down. "I'll take him, now."

"Okay..." said Ino.

The pink girl started shaking Lee. "Wake up, Lee!" So violent.

Lee blinked his eyes open. "Tenten! Why are you here?"

"We came to help you."

"Huh? Where did the Sound ninja go?"

"That Sasuke boy drove them away."

"I see..."

"Why did you take action on your own? On top of that, you're hurt badly!"

"Sakura-san was in danger, so as a man, I had to..."

"You really are an idiot!"

"I can't argue with that..."

"AHA! YOU'RE THE FUZZY EYEBROWS GUY!" exclaimed Naruto. "AHAHAHAHAOUECK!"

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto. Will you ever learn?" I said as I grabbed him by his ear. "Lee, thank you. You really helped us alot."

"NARUTO! DON'T TALK LIKE THAT TO LEE-SAN!" Sakura slugged him. She turned around and addressed Lee. "Lee-san. Thank you. Thanks to you, my eyes are wide open now. I think I've become a little stronger."

Lee looked at us blankly. Then he gulped and his eyes became all watery. "Sakura-san... Kaneshi-san.." He wiped away his tears. "I... It looks like I need more training. Sasuke-kun. You live up to the reputation of the Uchiha clan. You drove the Sound ninja away. You truly possess great potential and power. While I lost horribly... Sakura-san. The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice. The next time we meet, I promise that I will be a stronger man. Kaneshi-san. Thank you for protecting Sakura-san. You are a kind person."

"Sakura-chan! Come over here! I'll fix up your hair." called Ino.

I bowed down to Lee, and walked over to Sasuke, who was signaling me to come to him.

"Kaneshi... I want you to keep everything that happened while Naruto was out a secret from him."

"Why?"

"I just want it to keep quiet. Him and his loud mouth will get us all into trouble."

I nodded. That made sense. Looking around, I saw Ino and Sakura glaring at me for talking to Sasuke privately in a secretive manner. Then up in the trees, I saw Neji in some superhero pose with wind blowing through his hair. Aha. That's pretty funny there.


	42. Forty Second Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 42****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I want candy. But not owning Naruto.**

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* * *

**

The fire crackled. I watched the four fish smoking in it.

"It's been four days since the Second Exam started." said Sasuke.

"Yeah, you're right." agreed Sakura.

"The Second Exam began at around 3 pm. We only have about 25 to 26 hours left."

"Alot of teams might have already finished. If that's the case..."

The fish were golden brown now. "Ahaha! Itadekimasu!" whooped Naruto as he snatched one fish.

"There might not be anymore heaven scrolls now." Sakura said sadly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Four out of the allotted five days for the Second Exam has already passed. That means that we used up 80 percent of the time for the exam already. Total participants... 79. Or 26 teams. There are only 13 Heaven scrolls and 13 Earth scrolls, and only 13 teams can pass. On top of that, you remember, right, Sasuke-kun...? That Orochimaru guy burned our Scroll of Heaven."

"And that means..." Sasuke started.

"Only 12 teams can pass now." I finished.

"Also, there's no guarantee that the other scrolls are safe." added Sakura.

"After we split up from the other Konoha guys, we used two days to reecuperate from our wounds. We'll need to increase the distance we move in a day. The next enemy we meet could be our last chance." Sasuke informed us. "I'll go get some more water."

He took our water pouch and walked away.

"Hey, hey. I have a good way and it doesn't require us to fight." Naruto dumped out a bunch of other scrolls.

"No.. wait.. do you mean?" I asked.

"Yep. I have a lot of scrolls with me. A ninja technique manual, a poison manual, and a note-taking one. If we edit these to make it look like the Scroll of Heaven..."

"But that's cheating!" I cried.

"And! Even if you do that, we don't know what's written inside. If the Examiner takes a look inside, she'll find out right away! Idiot!" Sakura pointed out.

"These probably have some sort of passwords on them, and you won't know what the password is until you get both scrolls. In other words, we need the password to pass. It's got to be something like that. So?" Naruto assumed.

I sighed. "Naruto, when you say it, honestly... I'll bet it's the exact opposite of that."

"We don't know what's inside neither... SO THERE'S NO POINT IN MAKING A FAKE!" shouted Sakura.

Naruto looked disappointed and sighed.

"Geez, I'll have to agree with Kaneshi... I thought you were going to say something better since you were so confident. You obviously weren't thinking enough."

"Eh, but what if we can predict the contents?" He asked. "The Scroll of Earth.. We'll try opening this scroll..."

"NO!" She screamed as she whopped him on the head. "DID YOU FORGET THE RULE, YOU IDIOT?! She told us not to look inside the scroll until we get to the tower!"

"But we're in trouble at this rate, right?" he cried. Literally.

"Hold up. What if... What if... we just fail the exam this time around ... and try again later!" They both whopped me.

Naruto grabbed the Scroll of Earth. He put his thumb on the opening. Looking over, he questioned us silently for our approval. We both nodded. Sweat splashed onto the scroll. Trembling, he slowly started to open the flap with his thumb and began unraveling it. Suddenly a rush of wind whooshed over us.

"You shouldn't do that." It was Kabuto-san, who laid his hand on the scroll.

* * *

"You guys sure are stupid. That was a close one." Sasuke said. 

"Sorry..." we all muttered.

"Those who break the rules will be forced into a situation where they must retire. In the previous Exam, the scrolls were made so that those who opened the scroll will see a sleep-inducing inscription. So they'll remain in this forest until the Exam ends." Kabuto warned.

"By the way, you're Kabuto-san, right? What are you doing here alone?" asked Sasuke.

"It's not like I was after your scroll or something."

"Right. If you wanted to, you could've stolen the scroll from Naruto back there. So are you after the Scroll of Heaven too?"

"No, I already have both. See?" He took them out. An urge to steal them came over me. "A lot happened, but I was headed for the tower to meet up with my teammates. Excuse me now."

"WAIT!" Kabuto stopped in his tracks. "Fight us."

"Fight?" Kabuto pondered on it.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped.

"You idiot! Do you know what you're saying?!"yelled Naruto.

"Shut up! Maybe he's right! If we want to make it, we should take the chance now!" I yelled back.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time."

"Sasuke, that's not right! After all, he did help us." Naruto scolded.

"Sasuke-kun, I don't think that's appropriate either... Sasuke-kun..." agreed Sakura.

"We don't have much choice. Kaneshi's right. We should take the chance right now. This is the only way we can survive in this forest!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Kabuto beat me to it. "Hmph. That's a lie."

"A lie?"

"You're not as prepared as you say you are. If you wanted to be more serious about this exam, why did you need to challenge me? You could've just attacked me when I had my guard down instead of declaring a challenge. That's what a ninja is supposed to do."

"Mmm. That's deep." said Naruto while nodding his head.

"But challenging someone instead of attacking someone from the back shows honor." I argued.

"That's true. And I don't hate you for doing so. That's why I shall tell you what path to take. But... Let's talk while we walk. The bonfire's smoke was carrying the smell of grilled fish. If we stick around, wild animals and enemies will come after us." He smirked. "All right then, let's go!"

We took off and jumped from tree to tree.

"Are you sure there are enemies left?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. You just need to think a little to understand." said Kabuto-san.

"So, what are we doing then?" I asked.

"In a jungle battle like this or in an open forest, do you know the cleverest way to fight?"

"No.."

"The ultimate goal of this exam is to get to the center tower. That means on the last day, the easiest place to get a scroll is... around that tower."

"Ah! I get it! So we're going to lay in wait." exclaimed Sakura. "That means we're going to go after the teams that have both scrolls and are heading for the tower."

"That's one-third correct."

"What?"

"That means you're not the only one thinking that. People who thought of the same idea should have traps set up around the tower."

"I get it! So that means there are a lot of enemies there waiting for us. Eh, it's more exciting when there's a handicap. I look forward to it! We just need to beat all those guys, get the Scroll of Heaven, and we'll be out of here!" said Naruto.

"No, that's only still two-thirds correct."

"What's left to say?" I asked.

"We have to think of the 'collectors' who appear in exams like this."

"Collectors?"

"Even if the tower is really close, you're still not safe in this Exam. This special situation gives birth to them. In other words, if they meet an unexpected enemy... They keep extra scrolls and give one to the enemy in exchange for going free. Or by giving friends who are in the same village a scroll they need, they can gain information to get through the remaining exams easier. Or crush those strong ones who will get to the Third Exam. Although you've probably figured out by now, they are pretty strong. They are the worst enemies you can meet since they are never satisfied."

"I see. I get the reason why you came to us. You're afraid of them, too, right?" confirmed Sasuke.

"Right."

We kept jumping through for hours on end, until finally, night fell. We stopped, and the tower was visible amongst the trees now.

"You can see the tower now, right? This is where things get crucial." said. Kabuto-san.

"ALL RIGHT! LET'S GET TO IT THEN!" shouted Naruto. We heard a rustle of leaves.

"An enemy already?" gasped Sakura.

"There!" Naruto threw a kunai in one direction. He hit a ginormous centipede. "Oh, it's just a centipede." Ick. Yuck. Ugh. I hate bugs.

"It's huge. Those legs are just creepy." freaked Sakura.

"Naruto-kun. I want to avoid careless actions and unnecessary noises from here on out. If we go through this jungle making noises like an elephant, it's the same as signaling to everyone that we're coming. We will receive a passionate welcome." Kabuto-san lectured.

"I see..." gulped Naruto.

"We will hide and move slowly, as time allows."

"Okay." we answered.

"Everyone search around the area to prevent any set traps." We all moved out cautiously. I used the trees to scan this region. When we all came back together, Kabuto-san took out a compass/telescope and looked towards the tower. "Alright everyone. We'll go this way." As we were walking along, Naruto stopped in front of a dangling rope. He stared at it when Kabuto-san put his hand on his shoulder. He gestured for us to look up. High up in the trees were dead ninjas, probably killed by a set off trap.

"Traps. It's going to get more intense now." said Kabuto-san.

Suddenly Naruto tripped and triggered a trap. A volley of kunais were released, going for Naruto. Kabuto-san jumped over him to save him.

"Kabuto-san!" Me and Naruto gasped. But his body poofed into a log.

"That was close Naruto." called Kabuto-san from high up in the trees. "I told you that it was going to get intense now.

We continued trekking through the forest. It seemed like the tower was never getting any closer.

"I can't take it anymore." groaned Sakura, feebly. "How long have we walked? The tower isn't getting closer at all."

I took this as the opportunity to sit down and rest my legs. "I can't take it anymore either. It's like we're walking in a circle."

"Yeah, it looks like it's right in front of us... This is weird." commented Naruto.

"Interesting. It seems that we're already inside someone's "passionate welcome". See? Look over there!" Kabuto-san pointed out the giant centipede that Naruto had killed a few hours back.

"Ack! Is that...? What's going on?" exclaimed Naruto.

"What?!" shrieked Sakura.

"An illusionary technique." remarked Sasuke.

"So it seems." agreed Kabuto-san.

I just kept looking at the bug. Oh, how much I hated bugs and oh how much I was scared of big ones.

"I see I was fooled. It seems that we were tricked into walking in circles in a very careful manner. They were watching us. They most likely want us to waste our strength and were planning a surprise attack when we tired." Kabuto-san said.

"Then we're already playing to the enemy's plan." said Sasuke with disappointment.

"Then they might attack us soon."

At that moment, I heard a bunch of sludgy sounds. Shadowy clones were surround us. They walked like zombies.

"They're here." Sasuke said excitedly.

"This is a good handicap." said Naruto even more excitedly.

"I'll see you guys in the next world." I said in an insanely excited/hype voice.


	43. Forty Third Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 43****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I definitely will not own Naruto.**

**Legasp. Weird ninjas that keep saying Lucky!**

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**

It was pretty gross, the way those sludge-like clones appeared.

"What's going on?" asked Sakura.

"There are a lot of them. And they're all replications." replied Kabuto-san.

"Heh heh. Like a mouse in a trap." said one of the clones. I shuddered. Even their voice sounded weird and unnatural.

"SHUT UP!" shouted Naruto as he slugged one of them.

His fist went through its body, leaving a big gash there. Another head started sprouting out of it. Oueck. These were pretty sick clones.

The second head grew a hand holding a kunai. I saw where this was leading to.

"Naruto!" me and Sasuke both shouted. He threw several shurikens, bursting the clone's arm apart. But it threw another kunai at him. I was expecting Sasuke to dodge it, but he didn't seem to be doing anything. "Sasuke, move!" He still didn't budge. Kabuto-san took him down and got cut instead. He moved away, while gripping his arm. Sasuke was still lying on the ground. He looked shocked.

"Since Kabuto-san got hurt, does that mean that they're shadow replications with real flesh? But shadow replications should disappear if they are hit cleanly. Since they don't disappear, are they really illusions? Which is it?" freaked Naruto.

The clones kept sludging their way towards us. I aimed a kunai at them.

"It's useless! Stop!" shouted Sasuke. Ah, so he did move, finally. "They are just illusions. It's an illusionary technique used by the enemy."

"But! The wound on Kabuto-san is real!" shouted Sakura.

"No, Sasuke-kun is right. The real enemy is probably hidden near us. And they are attacking us from somewhere else while matching the illusion ninja's movements. This makes it seem like the illusion ninja are attacking us." said Kabuto-san.

"Then, we should follow the direction in which that kunai came from!" I yelled.

"I'll find those idiots hiding in the forest, and beat them up!" Naruto threatened.

"Wait! They could've moved in seconds to a different location, so the source of the kunai is hidden, so we can't figure out the enemy's exact location. Do you understand now? That's their tactic. According to my data, those who are weak in hand-to-hand and clsoe combat prefer to attack like this. The real enemy won't come out until we can't move at all. Listen up, everyone. We can only dodge the enemy's attack right now." said Kabuto-san.

"All right. If we're planning on doing that..." remarked Naruto. The clones all threw kunais at us. I kept dodging them. If they were going to do this until I can't move, then it wouldn't be too long. "I'll just do this!" shouted Naruto. He got into his shadow clone form.

"Stop, Naruto-kun. Don't waste your chakra. There's no point in attacking them."

"If we get rid of all the illusions at once, the enemy can't attack during the time they return back to normal. Since they're going to reveal their position." he informed us. Suddenly Naruto clones appeared everywhere. They jumped, attacking the clones. Those clones kept bursting apart and reformed into another clone. It was endless.

"Sasuke-kun.. What do we do now?" asked Sakura.

"That idiot.. We have to fight, too!" said Sasuke.

"Yeah, he can't handle this situation alone." said Kabuto-san, backing him up.

"Let's hope we win." I muttered. We all jumped to attack. I thrust my kunai at everything that came my way. I suddenly came upon myself. "What the--" I shouted. Someone grabbed my shirt and led me away. Everyone else was there, behind the bushes. "What's going on?"

"Shh. Just watch."

For some time, I watched our clones fighting, avoiding any damage. The sun started rising, when they, or 'we', were thrusted onto the ground. Naruto smirked.

"Like a mouse in a trap." said Sasuke.

"It went well, Naruto." congratulated Sakura.

"Genious, really." I added.

"What? That can't be! When did they...!" they gasped. We rose up out of the bushes.

"You idiots finally showed yourselves, damn it." said Naruto. Our fake selves poofed back into fake Narutos. "I used the shadow replication to just set up this trick. So that I could pretend to be everyone from this team." His clones poofed away.

"Once Naruto undid his replications, the three of us hid. So an illusionary technique master was fooled." Sasuke told them. Naruto fell onto his knee, panting. "Naruto! Naruto, you used up too much chakra. I'll do the rest."

Naruto rose up and punched one of the weird guys, causing a domino effect. "I'm not going to let you take all the good parts like that." he panted out.

I was surprised that Naruto still had the strength to do that. He used an extreme amount of chakra over the 5 days, but could still defeat these three single handedly.

"Pretty good. But we're still not done yet. Time is running out. We'll show you our ninja techniques now. Ninpou, Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu." one of them shouted. Replications appeared.

"Are those shadow replications?" I asked.

"No. They're regular. But they must have some strategic plan to this. Be careful." said Sasuke.

"Heh. If they're just replications, there's only one real one. I'll beat up everyone until I hit the real one." scoffed Naruto.

"No, Naruto! You used enough energy already. You could pass out or die, even!" I warned.

"It's a waste of energy!" shouted Sasuke.

"Shut up! I told you not to interfere!" shouted Naruto. He jumped in, punching at different clones. They were all fake.

Sasuke suddenly keeled over. I saw those weird marks, burning and spreading again.

"Sasuke-kun! Don't use your Sharingan anymore!" shouted Sakura.

Naruto stared at us.

"DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!" shouted one of the clones. He raised a kunai and aimed to stab Naruto. Kabuto-san ran over and pushed Naruto away. While doing that, he got cut.

Naruto became angry and yelled.

"Stop! Naruto! No matter how much you try, the real one isn't in those replications." shouted Sasuke.

"Byakugan." I muttered. Sasuke was right. The crowd of clones were all just bits of chakra.

"Then where's the enemy going to attack from? If they are normal replications, the replications themselves can't attack us!"

I scanned the area. They were nowhere to found. Not in the trees, the bushes, the sky. Where were they? I gasped. "Naruto! They're attacking from the ground!"

At that point, they appeared out and threw a kunai at Kabuto-san. It cut his face and knocked off his glasses. Naruto kicked one in the head, and they all went down, in that same domino effect.

"Heh. Don't let your guard down, huh?" panted Naruto.

"Ah, thank you, Naruto. You saved me." said Kabuto-san.

* * *

"How did you get that?" asked Kabuto-san. He stared at Sasuke's neck. "It looks like a big bruise." 

"It's nothing." muttered Sasuke.

Naruto was busy rummaging in those 3 shinobis' pockets. "Ha! I found it! Look! It's a Scroll of Heaven!"

"YES!" I whooped.

* * *

The tower door was right in front of us now. I wiped off sweat. 5 days of trying to survive with fear was a toughie. 

Two shinobi came to us.

"Oh, it's just you..." said one of them. "You're late, Kabuto."

"I was caught up in some trouble. Sorry."

"But, but, thanks to you, we got the two scrolls." thanked Naruto.

"No, it's because of your hard work." Kabuto-san assured us. "Especially that last move, it was incredible, Naruto-kun. We'll go through this door. Good luck to all of us."

He gave us a thumbs up. I grinned.

"Aahh..." I sighed. I put my arms around Naruto. "Let's open the door, Naruto." We both reached our hands for a knob. Grinning to each other, we slowly opened them. Walking into the room, we saw nothing. Except for a sign on the wall.

"No one's here..." said Sakura.

"Sakura, I'm okay now." said Sasuke. He stopped using Sakura for support.

"Hey, hey, what are we supposed to do?" whined Naruto.

"Look at that! If you do not possess Heaven... I don't understand... If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe paths. This is the secret of something something... It shall lead you on your way." read Sakura.

"If we only have strength, gain knowledge. If we only have knowledge, seek strength. Once we've done that, then everything will be easier." I remarked.

"That part looks like it's missing a letter." said Naruto.

"It's probably referring to the scrolls. I think it's telling us to open both Heaven and Earth scrolls." Sakura took the scrolls and handed one to Naruto. They both trembled, as they started unravel the scrolls.

"Here goes." I grinned.


	44. Forty Fourth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 44****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I definitely will not own Naruto.**

**Oh Em Gee. Everyone. It's time for one of my favorite parts now.**

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**

They both gasped out of shock.

Naruto returned to his normal state and asked, "What's this?"

Sakura suddenly shrinked her eyes. "Person, Jin?" she muttered in question.

The scroll suddenly started to bulge and smoke wisped out of it.

"This is a summoning inscription." gasped Sasuke. "Naruto, Sakura, let go of those scrolls!"

They threw it. We got into a fighting stance. An outline of a person appeared in the smoke. I tried to scrutinize who this was.

"You're..." stammered Sasuke.

"I-Iruka sensei?" I stammered with him.

"Hello. Long time no see. Looks like the three of you went through a lot of trouble." He beamed.

"What? Why? Why did you appear through a summoning technique, Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"We Chuunins are to welcome the examinees at the end of this Second Exam. I was given the duty to pass the three of a you a message by chance." sensei took out a watch. "You're just in time. Everyone... Congratulations on passing the Second Exam. I'd like to treat you to ramen at Ichiraku, but... "

"Yeah!" cheered Naruto as he ran to hug sensei. I laughed.

"Hey, Naruto! Let me finish..."

"Yeah! Ramen! Ramen!" shouted Naruto, gleefully. I snickered, the look on his face was just too hilarious. "I did well! I'm the best! I want to eat ramen!"

The other two slumped onto the floor. "What an energetic guy..." sighed Sasuke.

I collapsed too, and stared at the ceiling. "Now it's the Third Exam. By all good things, I hope it's easier." My bones ached a bit.

"Geez, you're still restless like before." beamed Iruka sensei.

"I see. If we looked into the scrolls during the exam... Iruka sensei, what were you planning to do?"

"Sasuke, you're as sharp as ever." sensei complimented. "As you have guessed, this exam tests your mission completion ability. So, if you break the rules and open a scroll... We were ordered to knock out the examinees until the Second Exam ended."

"Aren't you three glad you didn't open it?" asked Sasuke.

"Thank goodness for Kabuto san." I sighed.

"Oh yeah. Sensei! What does that text on the wall mean? It seems to be broken, and we can't understand it at all." asked Sakura.

"Who cares?! We passed the exam!" whooped Naruto.

"No, my other mission is to explain to you what this means. Read it again. This is the principle Hokage-sama wrote that you should keep in mind as a Chuunin. The 'Heaven' in this text points to the head of a person. And 'Earth' points to the body. If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. That means, for example, if Naruto's weak point is his brain... He should study and prepare for his missions. And if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. For example, if Sakura's weakness lies in strength, she should train herself every day. And if you have both Heaven and Earth attributes, any dangerous missions will become safe... It can even become easy..."

"What about that missing letter?"

"It's the letter that symbolizes a Chuunin. The 'human' letter that was in here goes in there. The survival mission you took part in these past five days tested the basic abilities of the examinees as a Chuunin. And you guys completed it. A Chuunin is a commander-class. He has a duty to lead a team. Deeply inscribe into your heart the importance of knowledge and strength in missions. Never forget that Chuunin principle, and go on to the next step. That's all I was ordered to tell you."

"Roger!" said Naruto. After that, there was an awkward silence. I sat up.

"But don't push yourselves in the Third Exam. Especially you, Naruto. I'm worried about you, the..."

Naruto cut sensei off. "Iruka-sensei! When I got this Konoha forehead protector I graduated from the academy. There's no need to worry. And this is the proof you gave me to show I'm not a child anymore, right, Iruka-sensei... I may still be restless, but I'm not a kid anymore. Right now. I'm a shinobi."

"Ahaha... Shinobis shouldn't be wearing neon orange jumpsuits." I murmured. But I understood what he was saying. I supported it too.

"I see. I'm sorry, Naruto." sensei apologized.

Naruto was now laughing like a maniac. I cringed.

* * *

I looked around. A huge crowd was still left. I sighed. I was hoping that this would get easier. The other rookie 6 made it too. Hinata was there. Grinning I wondered when we would leave from here. But then there was that evilicious Hyuuga. I groaned. But, Rock Lee made it too then. That would definitely be interesting. Those sound ninjas... If we meet them again in battle, it wont be pretty. 

"Hey, hey, old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and the super brows are here, too. Feels like everyone important is here." whispered Naruto. Ahaha. His nicknames were pretty darn funny, if mean.

"I don't have a good feeling about it, though." said Sasuke as he rubbed his shoulder.

That reminded me of that mark he had. What was it. What is it doing to him. The scary guy's face appeared in my mind. I winced. My hate for him was huge. For what reason? I don't know. But if he comes back, I have some business to deal with him.

"We will now have an explanation of the Third Exam from Hokage-sama. Everyone listen well. Hokage-sama, please do the honors." declared Anko.

"The Third Exam will begin." said the Hokage. "But before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam. Why we do a joined exam with the allied nations. To maintain good relations with the allied nations and heighten the level of the shinobi... Do not let those reasons deceive you. This exam, so to speak, is... The epitome of a war between the allied nations. If we go back through history, the allied nations right now were... Neighboring countries that have fought each other over and over again. To avoid wasting military power, those countries decided to choose a place to fight... That is the beginning of the Chuunin Selection Exam."

Eh? We're fighting a war?

"What do you mean? We're not doing this to select Chuunins?" shouted Naruto.

"Yes, this Exam does examine those who are worthy of the Chuunin title. But, on the other hand, it's also a place where shinobi fight and carry their country's dignity. In this Third Exam, feudal lords and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited here as guests. And feudal lords from countries with hidden villages and shinobi leaders will see your battles. If there's a significant difference in power, the strong country will be flooded with jobs. If a country is seen as weak, their jobs will decrease. And at the same time, countries are able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries. In other words, they can put foreign pressure on them."

"So why do we have to fight with the risk of losing our lives?" piped Kiba.

"A country's power is the village's power. A village's power is the shinobi's power. And a shinobi's true power is only born in a life-or-death battle. This Exam is also a place to show off the shinobi power of one's country. Since this is an exam where you fight with your life on the line, it has a meaning... And your predecessors have fought and dreamed of being in the Chuunin Exam because of it."

"But why do you say it is to promote good relations?" asked one of Rock Lee's teammates.

"I told you at the beginning to not get it confused with that. The custom of showing one's life and fighting to maintain balance... That is the good relation in the world of shinobi. This is a life-or-death battle for your dream and village's dignity."

"I understand now." grinned Naruto.

"I don't care. Tell us the details of this life-or-death exam." This person's cold voice sent shivers up my spine.

"Then I will now begin the explanation of the Third Exam, but..."

A chuunin popped up, kneeling to the Hokage. "Excuse me, Hokage-same... I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain."

"Please do."

I raised my head to see Gekkou san. Judge? Judge of what? The Third Exam? Gekkou san coughed. He turned his head. No offense, but he looked like a druggie, with those huge eyebags.

"Everyone, it's nice to meet you. Everyone, before the Third Exam... There's something I want you to do... "


	45. Preliminary Exams

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 45****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I definitely will not own Naruto.**

**Preliminary? Wuh oh.**

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"Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance the Third Exam's main battle."

"Preliminary matches?! What do you mean?!" shouted Shikamaru.

"My, my. Haven't heard you say so many words so loudly in a lifetime, Shikamaru." I said, while rubbing my ears.

"Sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminary matches. Why can't we just start the Third Exam with the remaining people?" Sakura asked, in a shy sense of manner.

"In this case, it must have been because the First and Second Exam were too easy, I don't know... But there are too many examinees left. According to Chuunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the Third Exam. As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the Third Exam, so... We cannot just have a lot of matches. We are limited on time, as well. So, those who aren't feeling well... " He coughed. "Excuse, me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation... Please let me know. The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"SAY WHAT?!" I shouted.

"What?!"

"But we just got through the Second Exam!"

"How troublesome."

"What? What about my meal?"

"I forgot to mention this, but you will have one-on-one matches from here on out. No teams, sides or anything. Free for all. So please withdraw if you wish."

Sasuke winced in pain, and held onto his shoulder. I patted him. "Sasuke, you should withdraw. You're not fit enough to do this."

"No. I'm going to do this."

"Sasuke-kun, you should withdraw." whimpered Sakura. "Because you've been acting weird ever since that Orochimaru guy beat you. That bruise hurts even now, right? At this rate.."

I gave her a warning glance. "Sakura. REMEMBER to not say anything."

"But, I'm scared. I'm afraid for him." Tears welled up in her eyes.

I looked at Naruto. He was staring at us in a suspicious way.

"You're not in any condition to fight normally, Sasuke-kun."

"Shut up."

"I know it!"

"Be quiet!"

"You've been bearing with the pain all this time!"

"Just be quiet!"

"Whatever you say, I'm going to tell the teachers about that bruise."

I didn't know what to do. Naruto was still staring. Sakura was crying about Sasuke, blabbing it all out. Several people were staring at us too. We needed a distraction.

"I'll quit." I turned around. It was Kabuto-san.

"Let's see... You are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun?" My eyes widened. "You may leave, then."

"What?! Kabuto-san!" I cried.

"Kabuto-san, why are you quitting?!" shouted Naruto. "Why?!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, Kaneshi-chan... but my body is completely worn out already. Even before the First Exam, after I had that quarrel with the Sound guys, I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. I can't fight right away, especially if it's a life or death battle..."

He had a little chat with his teammates. I swear I heard the name Orochimaru amongst them. "Kabuto-san." I started to say. I didn't know what I was thinking. Why would he of all people know Orochimaru, or be involved with him? "Nevermind." He smiled and waved to us goodbye. As he walked out, we all watched. Suddenly Gekkou san coughed.

"May I assume there are no more people who wish to retire?"

I could see Sakura's hand quivering. I grasped her shoulder, at the same time as Sasuke grabbed her hand. Solemnly, I put my finger to my mouth.

"Please, don't say anything." said Sasuke.

"Stop trying to act so tough, I don't want to see you suffering anymore." she pleaded.

"It doesn't matter anything to you. You're just being nosy." I was taken aback by that. Talk about a slap in the face. "Remember what I said. I'm an avenger." I sweatdropped. What the hell. 12 or 13 years old and he thinks he's an avenger. Puh-lease. "This isn't just an exam to me. I don't care about being a Chuunin, either. Am I strong? I just want the answer to that. I'm going to fight the strong guys, and... those strong guys are here! I will not allow even you to take away my path."

I took a step forward. Putting my arm around Naruto, I tried to distract him. "Wow, we're almost at the Third Exam, huh? Then after, maybe we'll eat ramen ramen ramen all night long." But even that didn't work. He pushed away from me and turned around.

"Stop acting cool, you idiot! Sakura-chan's worried about you..."

"Shut up. I want to fight with you, too."

There was this awkward silence. I'm serious. Guys just love to make those dramatic pauses, don't they...

"Then, let's begin the preliminary matches." I turned around. "Like I said, there will be no teams, and no sides. It's usually a one on one match, but as this year we had an extra genin who made it, there will be one vs one vs one. But aside from that, it will be like a real combat. The winners will be able to advance to the Third Exam. There are no rules. You will fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you do not want to die, please give up immediately. However, if I judge that the match is over... I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny..." He turned around and nodded. A small door slided open on the wall. "will be this. This electric bulletin board, will randomly display the names of two, er three, fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match."

I looked up at it. It flashed yellow. Names whizzed through until it stopped. "Akadou Yoroi vs--" I swiftly turned around. Sasuke! He was smirking, but then winced, while still smirking. Oh no. This wasn't the time for Sasuke to be fighting.

"Those whose names were displayed, step up."

The one, who Kabuto-san was talking with earlier, stepped out. So did Sasuke. I crossed my fingers. "The first match's fighters are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?"

"No." They both said.

I started biting my nails. Damn it all. I hate biting my nails, but being in this situation calls for it. Sasuke looked so small compared to his opponent. Win or lose, he better not die.

"We will now begin the first match. Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there."

I moved to go up there. I noticed that the other two weren't going.

"OY! KAKASHI SENSEI!" Naruto called gleefully. Sensei was walking towards us. He passed by and stopped for a short time next to Sasuke. I kept going, joining everyone else. We waited for the match to begin. They both went into their fighting stances.

It started off throwing their shuriken at each other. Sasuke winced in pain again and fell on the floor. Akadou reached to attack him, but he wrapped his legs around him, tripping him. Sasuke held him tightly to keep him on the ground, but suddenly the other guy's hand started burning with chakra. He hit him once on the chest and jumped away. Sasuke laid there, quivering. Suddenly he came back into action, but was pressed onto the ground again with that chakra burning hand. Sasuke fought against him, but suddenly his arms went still.

What was happening to him? It was like his energy was being sucked out of him. Wow, Sasuke's hair is actually pretty long. What the hell? What am I thinking about? My gaze was drawn to the sensei of the Hidden Village of Sound team. He caught me staring at him. I quickly looked back to the battle. Sasuke had thrown Akadou off. He dodged most of his attacks, but had to limp away painfully.

"SASUKE!!! YOU CALL YOURSELF UCHIHA SASUKE WITH THAT?!" Naruto shouted. What the hell? "Stop acting like an idiot! Get serious!"

Akadou is sucking out his chakra! This came into my mind. People that can't handle techniques that involve much chakra... Rock Lee! And Rock Lee does taijutsu. Beside us, there he was, focusing on the battle.

"USE TAIJUTSU SASUKE!"

He was attacking again. Sasuke understood what I told him.


	46. Forty Sixth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 46****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Me owning Naruto is a nono.**

**Egad. I was having trouble in including Kaneshi into the exams. But I totally got this worked out.**

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He disappeared. Suddenly there he was, kicking Akadou up. I sweatdropped again. Wasn't this the move that Rock Lee used on him? He appeared below Akadou. Blood came out of his mouth. That mark started burning and spreading over his body. I opened my mouth. The mark was blazing. I moved my hand. If he can't hold it back, I'm going to have to help him hold it back. But, his resistance was strong. The mark withdrew. I was taken aback. Sasuke started kicking Akadou down. Kick after kick, he finally landed him was a good, hard kick in the guts. YES! I mouthed. Akadou spit out blood, and Sasuke slid across the floor, stopping after doing an unintentionable somersault. I cringed. Wow, that must hurt. He sat back up, breathing hard. Wiping off the blood from his face, he looked towards the unconscious opponent and Gekkou san.

"I will stop this match now." he said. "The first match winner is Uchiha Sasuke. This means he passes the preliminary round."

"YES!!" Naruto and I cried. We high fived each other. Kakashi sensei poofed away and poofed back behind Sasuke, supporting him with his leg. He was holding a book. Make Out Violence...

"..." I was stunned. "KAKASHI SENSEI! I'M GOING TO BURN ALL YOUR BOOKS!"

"SASUKE! YOU WON IN SUCH AN IDIOTIC WAY! YOU'RE ALL WORN OUT! IDIOT!" shouted Naruto.

"Geez, that idiot." muttered Sasuke. But he was grinning.

I was so glad. And amazed. Ahahaha. A perfect package, you could say. Strong, smart, and hot. Medics came onto the stage. But there was still something that was growing inside of me. Suspicion? He walked off with Kakashi sensei.

"Sakura-chan, did you see some sort of weird wound on Sasuke's neck during the match?"

"I don't know."

"I see."

I breathed out deeply. She didn't tell Naruto. I turned to the battle floor again.

"Now, we will begin the next match."

The screen flashed yellow again. Zaku Abumi vs Aburame Shino.

"Fighters, step up."

Zaku's arms were in a cast.

"We will now begin the second match. Begin."

How was he going to fight? Zaku's only weapons were his arms, but they're broken. Ah! He took out his arm. Was he just pretending? He crouched down and attacked. Shino blocked it with one arm. Zaku used his other arm and blew Shino, who was blown away from the impact. Smoke cleared away as Shino stood back up. Impressive I do say. Bugs were crawling out of his skin. Ew. But respectable. But still ew. Ugh. I shivered. It was pretty gross. I noticed that bugs were everywhere. Surrounding Zaku. I couldn't make out what they were saying at all. Am I going deaf? But I could see Zaku trembling, then opening his hand towards Shino. In addition, he let free of his "broken arm." Then opening that hand too, I realized that this was his solution to his problem. He was about to unleash his power, when he suddenly lapsed into pain. Shino bitchslapped Zaku. He laid still on the floor.

"Winner, Aburame Shino."

I made out that Zaku's arms had bloody holes in the middle. That's not right.

"WHAT THE HELL SHINO? YOU WERE THAT STRONG?!" shouted Naruto.

"I did think that he was a creepy person..."

I sighed.

"We will now begin the next match."

Kakashi sensei poofed up behind us. "Hey." he waved.

"Don't just 'hey' me." rebuked Sakura. "What about Sasuke-kun? Is he all right?"

"Yes. He's asleep at the hospital right now. With ANBU escorts." replied sensei.

"Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankurou.." I whispered. Tsurugi Misumi? Who's he? Ah... Kabuto san's other teammate.

"Now begin the third match."

Kankurou slammed down his thing. Whatever that was. Tsurugi attacked him. It didn't look like a fatal or threatening or even strong attack. Until his arms wrapped around Kankurou's body. Ew. Geez. Can't someone do a nice and pretty attack? This guy's body was like rubber. Ugh.

"Wow! What's with his body?" said Naruto, so excitedly.

I bonked him on the head. "Shut up, Naruto."

Kankurou stood there, struggling. Then his neck snapped off. Ewww. Wait a minute. Something was chipped off. Paint? Suddenly the supposedly-dead-Kankurou wrapped wooden? arms around Tsurugi. The bundle that Kankurou slammed onto the ground startled bulging, and a hand poked out. That hand unwrapped itself. And there he was. The real Kankurou. His hand was burning with chakra, with chakra strings attached to it. So he was a puppeteer.

Tsurugi fell over. Wow. "Since his opponent is unable to fight, the winner is Kankurou." said our judge.

"Two against one is unfair. Is that allowed? Is it, Kakashi-sensei?" argued Naruto.

"Oh hush. Geez, Naruto, that's his technique. So let him use it." I told him.

"That's the Marionette Technique. He controlled the doll with his Chakra. It's merely a tool, like a shuriken..." added Sakura.

"They're both right." nodded sensei.

"Mmhmm."

Medics carried out Tsurugi. Sakura headed out.

"I'm going to the bathroom." she muttered. I saw Ino following after her. Can we say catfight?

"I wonder when my turn will be..." I murmured. It's taking so long... Turning to sensei, I informed him, "I'm going to the bathroom too."

"Uhh.. alright." is what I heard him say as I walked out. Sakura walked past me. I didn't bother acknowledging her, me and my tired self.

As soon as I got in the bathroom, Ino walked out too. They both had no scratches, err, no additional scratches, so no harm done. I leaned on the sink. Sighing I looked at all the wounds on my face, hands, then my back. I washed them, hoping they wouldn't become scars. Washing my face, I wondered what they were talking about in here. Sasuke? Come to think of it, exactly what was that mark again... Orochimaru... Ugh. I slapped myself. Stop thinking about that. I'm going to get pimples from stress over this. My eyes were such a weird color. I mean yellow? Ick. And my hair was getting so greasy. As soon as this is over, I'm going to a sauna. I chuckled softly. Wow, I'm getting more and more feminine every day. I banged my head on the mirror. It cracked. Oops.. I gently brushed my hand against the mirror. I wished that I didn't break it. Bad luck I guess. I saw chakra seep out of my hand. Gasping, I snatched my hand away. What? Several cracks were being put together. I touched it again. It was mending fast. My hand??? What? Seriously, what? Soon the mirror was perfect. I took a step back. In horror? In surprise? I honestly didn't know. I ran out of there. Taking deep breaths, I slowed down to a walk. Coming into the stadium, I saw them crowded around two bodies. Did someone die? I walked a little faster. There was Sakura and Ino. Both looking beat up. And Ino... her long hair was gone!

Naruto saw me. "Kaneshi! You were gone for so long." He mocked.

"What happened?"

"Sakura-chan and Ino both lost. But Ino was all this and Sakura-chan was like this, and I was going this, and Sakura-chan beat her!"

"...Uhh. Ok." Really. Naruto was not the best explainer of things.

"Tenten vs. Temari!" Rock Lee shouted. "Do your best Tenten!!!"

Ino woke up. I sat with them.

"GO TENTEN! IT'S YOUR YOUTH OF SPRINGTIME!" Gai sensei was cheering.

"I... lost?" cried Sakura.

"I'm the one who wants to cry. I tied with someone like you." said Ino.

"Aha. You both didn't make it. I'm not sure what happened though." I laughed.

"Shut up Kaneshi. Here.You bloomed into a beautiful flower." She handed Sakura her forehead protector. I can't say that I wasn't hurt. "But next time we fight, I'm not going to just make you faint. And I'm not giving Sasuke-kun to you." she mocked her.

"..." I sat in the middle, anxiously waiting for Sakura's response.

"SAME TO YOU!" she roared.

Not wanting to be stuck smackdab in the middle of this, I stood up, grinned, and left to watch the 5th match. Another girl match. How exciting.


	47. Forty Seventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 47****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Me owning Naruto is a nono.**

**So, I don't get alot of emails. And then today, suddenly I had 277 new emails. Egad. **

**Yes! Finally someone who comments. I was beginning to lose hope. I will make a special shrine for NotForYourAge.**

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"Begin!"

Tenten jumped back. Her team was cheering her on so loudly.

They weren't doing anything. Just talking. Suddenly Tenten jumped up and threw shuriken at her. But there was some kind of glitch and Temari moved ever so slightly in a flash. Tenten missed. Her team was making a fuss over that.

"How troublesome. Another Sand wins again." commented Shikamaru.

"We don't know that yet." argued Naruto.

"What's wrong with them winning?" I asked.

They stared at me like I was crazy.

"Well, I know."

"How do you know? If you just explain it to me, then maybe I'll understand."

"How troublesome, to explain something to you."

"If Shikamaru says she'll win, then she'll win." said Chouji.

Is Shikamaru that smart? Looking back to the match, Tenten was running in a circle at Temari, then taking out a scroll she was doing a spiral, where weapons flew out of it. But Temari just blew them away. Tenten took another two scrolls. She put them on the ground and did a hand seal. They flew up along with her and did that same thing, with an increased amount of weapons. But Temari blocked it again, easily. But she wasn't done, she tugged with her hands showing that the weapons were like her puppets, but Temari blocked her next attack, and she crashlanded. Amazingly, Temari had no scratch. She took her fan and disappeared. Then appeared behind her, sitting on her fan, flying. Waving her fan once, she created a huge whirlwind surrounding Tenten in the air. Tenten flew out of the whirlwind and landed on Temari's fan.

That was so... inhumane!

"Fifth match winner, Temari."

She threw Tenten away, but Rock Lee jumped down in time to catch her. Suddenly he went to attack her. Temari blocked him with her fan. Gai sensei went to stop it from getting too bad.

"Hey, hey Naru...to." I found myself way way way too far away. EH? HOW THE HELL DID I END UP HERE? The screen flashed yellow again.

Shikamaru vs Kin.

His team cheered him on. Wow. Us Leaf genins really like to cheer hard.

Shikamaru tried to use his shadow technique but she dodged it and threw needles at him. Then throwing more needles, she showed that she had strings attached to the ones with bells, distracting him, and she threw needles, hitting Shikamaru. It didn't hit him critically, but fell over, covering his ears. She threw needles, hitting him again. Shikamaru wasn't moving. Then he did that trademark sign. His 'thinking' sign, and then put it down. That meant he had it figured out. At that moment, Kin stumbled, dropping her needles. The shadow of her iron strings disfigured and became bigger and bigger. Slowly she reached her hand down to her pouch and took out a shuriken, like Shikamaru. Is he insane? They both threw it at each other. Shikamaru bent backwards, dodging it, while Kin banged her head on the wall. Ha. That's pretty smart.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru."

We looked to the screen again. It stopped at "Naruto vs Kiba."

"YES! MY TURN! MY TURN! MY TURN!" cheered Naruto. "THANK YOU FOR WAITING! IT'S FINALLY MY TURN!"

Rock Lee sulked. "I wasn't next... Sakura-san will call me fuzzy eyebrows and hate me."

I sighed, but couldn't help grinning. These two were really one in a million. Naruto kept cheering and whooping.

"Do you best, ok Naruto?" smiled Sakura.

"Oy. Don't give this team shame. Now go down there." I kicked him in the tooty.

They both went down and immediately started arguing. Kiba set down his dog, Akamaru. Naruto complained about that. Do they always have to have some argument before fighting? Kiba bent down and changed a bit. Something like a beast. He headbutted Naruto with extreme speed. Naruto went down. Claiming victory, Kiba turned to step off.

This wasn't like Naruto. The boy who's goal was to become Hokage. The one who saved us all in the Chuunin Exam. Watching him lie still on the ground. He started getting up. Aha. This was the Naruto. He said the only words so far that I could hear clearly.

"Don't underestimate me."

This time Kiba and his dog attacked him. Throwing a couple smoke bombs, I couldn't see what was going on. Naruto ran out, and Akamaru attacked him. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was on the ground again. Akamaru was beside him, smiling and wagging the tail. Kiba beckoned toward him, and everyone was shocked when Akamaru attacked him. He poofed into Naruto.

I laughed. That was so Naruto style. Suddenly Kiba tossed a pill into Akamaru's mouth. He turned red, and more like a wild dog than anything. He kicked the Naruto that was holding him hostage. Bending down, Akamaru went on top of Kiba and transformed into a clone of him. They jumped to attack Naruto. They were still moving with high speed. Both bounded off the walls and attacked Naruto over and over again. Then they turned into 2 bullets of twisters. It hit Naruto. Kiba started laughing. I knew that laugh. Back in the school days, he was the one taunting him. When I felt like I should be backing him up. Support him outwardly. When I wanted to beat up anyone who made fun of him. If you remember how I said that Kiba had once splashed mud into my face, that was the day when I couldn't stand it anymore. I went out of place and acted on impulse. He laughed at me and kicked mud towards me.

Naruto stood back up. Kiba used that same tornado technique again. He used that same smoke bomb technique too. With the smoke clearing, I saw that there were three Kibas. One of them punched another. Was that Naruto? I'm sure Kiba was good enough to tell the difference with his nose. That Kiba poofed into Akamaru. The real Kiba looked surprised and slugged the other Kiba. That Kiba turned into Akamaru too. Being surprised, myself, I wondered what just happened. One of those Akamarus poofed and attacked Kiba. That... that right there is some skill. Who would've thought of something like that. They both went to attack each other. Kiba threw shurikens and Naruto went into outrageous poses to dodge them. Finally Kiba attacked him hand to hand. He moved with amazing speed, leaving Naruto helpless. He kept attacking him, and Naruto fell over several times. But he still wasn't falling down. Kiba moved to attack him from behind, but Naruto ... farted? I burst out laughing and tried to stifle it. He covered his nose and groaned in pain for a while. Now was the chance for Naruto to try out his new move or whatever. He used his shadow replication technique. As I watched, I noticed that this was similar to Sasuke's move which was Rock Lee's move. I sighed. You know, people should stop taking other people's moves. Kiba crashed to the ground, and laid still.

"I won! I won!" exclaimed Naruto, oh so joyfully.

I want to fight in the next match.


	48. Forty Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 48****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Me owning Naruto is a nono.**

**I'm so happy happy happy. Just slap happy.**

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Naruto came jumping with glee and rubbed some ointment on himself. He healed instantly.

"This medicine works so well! Here, do you want to use this too, Sakura-chan, Kaneshi-chan?"

"Nah." I said.

The screen flashed yellow again. Hyuuga Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji. This wasn't good. I've seen Hinata and she's just too nice and gentle. And seeing my view of Neji, well he's the epitomy of inhumanity. Maybe inhumanity is too strong of a word.. The match began. I think I really am going deaf. They weren't fighting, but I could tell that Neji was weakening her with words. That's just like what he did to me. He was using Byakugan now. She was frozen with fear. Eyes moving everywhere else, but avoiding Neji's eyes.

"SCREW HIM, HINATA! DON'T LET HIM BEAT YOU WITHOUT EVEN MAKING A MOVE. IT'S JUST WORDS! STOP GIVING A CRAP ON WHAT HE ASSUMES ABOUT YOU."

Naruto took over for me. "YOU CAN CHANGE! DON'T LABEL PEOPLE JUST LIKE THAT! BEAT HIM UP HINATA! HINATA! WHY DON'T YOU SAY SOMETHING BACK? IT'S MAKING THE PEOPLE WATCHING ANNOYED!"

"THAT'S RIGHT THAT'S RIGHT!" I roared. "Hmph." This was really infuriating.

Hinata used Byakugan as well. Rock Lee was saying something about how Neji was the strongest genin out of us, as he could use the strongest hand to hand combat form of Konaha. In other words, the gentle fist. I did learn the difference between using taijutsu and the Hyuuga way of fighting. Taijutsu hurts on the outside, where the gentle fist hurts inside. Also known as the chakra circulatory system.

Suddenly Hinata and Neji stopped their fighting. They were in a position where it looked like Hinata hit him, but was also hit. She spit out blood, but she didn't give up there. Withdrawing her arms, she tried to hit him again. But he deflected it and hit her on the arm. Rolling up her sleeve, he showed her the tenketsu that he blocked. He then shoved her away. She still stood back up, but had the side affect of throwing up more blood. It was obvious that she was trying so hard. It was somewhat unlike her, but a positive change.

"DO YOUR BEST HINATA!" I shouted.

Neji suddenly shoved up her chin. This time she didn't fall. She ran to attack again. I clenched my fist. Goosebumps running up my arm. He hit her full blast. She laid there.

"DON'T STOP THE MATCH!" Naruto said. "Don't stop the match."

"But, Naruto, even if she still can stand up... she might die." I whispered.

"Shut up. Aren't you her friend?"

They were talking. Again. Neji rushed to give her a final blow. I don't know why, but I jumped over the rail. "Hinata!" I wasn't the only one. The jounins stopped him. Hinata fell over. I ran to her. She spit out more blood. I lowered my head to hear her heartbeat. It was so faint, it was hard to believe that she was even alive. I glared at Neji. What was he trying to do? Even if not siblings, they were related. Her sensei ran over to us too. She had a worried expression on her face.

"If you have the time glare at me, shouldn't you be using that time to take care of her?" sneered Neji.

That was too far.

"YOU ARE SO FUCKED UP, NEJI. IF I EVER HEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOURSELF AND FATE CAN'T BE CHANGED, YOU ARE SO DEAD. I DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT I'M NOT A GENIUS OR THAT HINATA'S NOT A GENIUS. HELL, NARUTO'S NOT A GENIUS EITHER. BUT HE GOES AND YAPS ABOUT HE'LL BE HOKAGE SOMEDAY. GEEZ. YOU MAKE ME SO MAD." Medics came to pick her up. "She's your cousin, isn't she?" My voice faltered. I slumped. I was so depressed, because now I'm not even sure of what I said. Sensei moved behind me and took me back to the sidelines. Neji was still smirking. Can you see why I hate him so much?

* * *

They were cleaning up Hinata's blood from the floor. I still didn't go yet. And it was so scary. I don't want to fight the sound ninja. And it would be fun to fight Rock Lee, but I still don't want to. 

Gaara vs Rock Lee vs Kaneshi.

My mouth dropped. I was keeling over in despair. I kept mouthing NOOO NOOOOO NOOO. Gaara was waiting down there and Rock Lee was having some inspirational chat with his sensei. I looked for hope from Kakashi sensei. He just smiled.

"Go, Kaneshi!" Sakura nudged me.

I sighed. Get it over with, I guess. I jumped down. Gaara looked so SCARY. Rock Lee was saying something to him. I walked as slowly as I could.

"I don't know what that bobbed hair guy or that stupid girl can do, but they can't beat Gaara." said that weird puppet dude.

"I HEARD THAT!" I shouted. At that moment, Gaara's little cork thing for his gourd shot at Rock Lee. My chest was heaving up and down. I was so nervous about this. They were both pretty strong. I closed my eyes and calmed myself down.

"Now, let the 9th match begin."

Rock Lee sprang forward to kick Gaara. I sweatdropped. Was I just not important enough to kick? Sand blocked his kick. This was my time to attack! I took out kunais and shurikens and threw them at him. The sand blocked that too. A huge wave of sand went after us both. I jumped back. All that sand started to withdraw back into the gourd. Maybe if I destroy that, he can't attack. I jumped up and threw a kunai at the gourd. The sand deflected that and tried to engulf me. I created the barrier. Rock Lee was attacking him now. Was this fair? I mean, it's almost like 2 vs 1. But maybe it's just better to defeat the sand, then Lee. Yes.

I joined in on the attack. But that annoying sand was blocking both of us. Rock Lee was pushed back by the sand. Gaara wasn't moving at all! What the hell?! Lee avoided the next sand attack. I kept attacking. Suddenly there was a huge crash and the whole room shook, I fell over. Rock Lee was so fast that I couldn't see him at all. Because of that, I dared not to attack. But I did notice something. Gaara, himself, was looking around, bewildered. He couldn't track down Rock Lee. But he could still protect himself? Was that sand rigged? Does it just not let Gaara get hurt?

"Byakugan!" I muttered. It was hazy but I could see an outline of Rock Lee zooming whoosh whoosh whoosh. FINALLY Gaara got wounded. And then kicked back. Yes! And NO! Now I'm definitely going to lose to Rock Lee. Gaara lifted his face and sand was chipping off him. He was smiling so insanely, it was scary. Sand started covering him more and more. So he was STILL unharmed. Unbelievable. I focused chakra into my feet, hoping to meet just a little close to Rock Lee's speed. This time I'm attacking both of them. If I lose, I lose, but I really want to get this over with. I swung my arm through the air and blasted chakra at both of them. Lee dodged it with his intense speed. And Gaara blocked once again. Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, I can use that thing again. I kept blasting blades of chakra at both of them, running around. But then Rock surrounded us, running in a circle. His bandages were slightly unwrapped. He kicked us both up and shot down full speed, with his bandages tightly wrapped around. I panicked and created a huge barrier at the last minute. A big explosion followed, as Lee was thrown at the wall, along with me. And Gaara was gone. Groaning, I got back up. Gaara appeared again, looking so evil it's not even funny. Rock Lee didn't look like he was able to move. A tsunami of sand was being built too. I picked him up and dodged the attacks. Lee stopped me.

"It's against the rules, Kaneshi. Please." I dropped him carefully. Another shot of sand came toward us, and I jumped away. He rolled away too. Sand came attacking us continuously. Slowly, exhaustion was getting to me, and it must be even harder for him. This time he couldn't dodge it. I have to beat Gaara before he gets carried away. But I'm too weak. He's stronger than me and he's getting beaten. I don't want to see Lee getting hurt while I'm not. I felt like crying. I'm always a crybaby. What's wrong with me? He screamed in pain as sand slammed down against his back. Even it's against the rules, I'm going to save him the trouble. I moved fast, taking off my jacket. Putting it on him, I pushed him away. Reaching out my hand, I wished that I could think of something quick. A sword started forming. Running as fast as I could, I swung that sword at Gaara nonstop. Even I didn't know how this was working, and exactly what I was doing, but it was cutting through the sand. That's enough for me. Since there's even an armor of sand, I'm not holding back anything. I kept swinging and swinging, hoping that I could hit him. My chakra made sword was growing with every hit. I saw the sand armor chipping off. I was actually hitting him! I felt stronger than before. But my arms reached their limit and gave way to exhaustion. It was at that moment when sand swallowed me. Having happened so fast, in one second everything went pitch black. I couldn't move. It was hard to breathe, and there was a ginormous pressure against my body. My rib cage shattered, along with my arms and legs. I screamed, but the sand muffled it all.


	49. Kaneshi's Training Begins

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 49****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Me owning Naruto is a nono.**

**I'm so happy happy happy. Just slap happy.**

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I opened my eyes. It was all dim. Things began to come into focus. I noticed that there was one of those air breathing masks on me. My head felt so dizzy. Was I in a hospital room? I snatched all those little wires or whatever off of me and jumped out of bed. I ran out and down the hallway. I passed a nurse. Skidding to a stop, I turned back to her.

"Hey, hey. Do you know about the main matches? Who won?" She wasn't answering. Instead, she was giving me more of a confused look. "Nevermind." I muttered and hurried away.

"Hey! That's not possible! You broke your rib cage, arms and legs!" she shouted after me.

Pausing, I stretched and moved my arms and legs around. "It looks fine to me!" I shouted back.

I winded down the hallways until I met Kakashi sensei. "Sensei, sensei!"

"Oh, it's you Kaneshi..."

"Do you know who won the match?"

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Ne, ne sensei! Who won?"

He sighed. "You didn't win. The sand ninja, Gaara, did."

"What about Rock Lee?"

"He's... in a bad condition"

Astonishing, yes. I didn't expect for Lee to lose. "Is he okay? What did Gaara do?"

"I'm more worried about you.. You should be in a worser state right now."

"Yeah, come to think about it, how long has it been since the matches?"

"One day? Well, I'm off to see Sasuke. If you have free time, visit your friends or train." He headed off.

"Hey! Wait! I want to train! Aren't you going to train me?!"

He turned to face me. "I think you'll do fine with someone else. His name is Rangekun Odakai. Ask him to train you."

He walked away. I frowned, crossing my arms. What the hell? I bet he's visiting Sasuke. I returned to my room and changed into my clothes. There's only one thing left to do. I nodded to myself. I steadied myself on the window ledge. I'll have to ask somebody about where this Odakai guy lives.

* * *

I stared at the door. So this was Rangekun-sama's house? Dang. This is one humongous house. It was on the outskirts of Konoha too. Well, I made it this far. I reached to push the doorbell. Before I could, the door opened.

"Good morning, but I can't. Sorry. Goodbye." The door shut just as sudden.

WHAT? I knocked again. "Hello?! Is this Rangekun-sama's house? Kakashi sensei told me to seek your training!"

"I'm denying your request!"

I pounded on the door. "EY! I need to train!"

"Well I need to rest!"

Damn him. I sat down on the porch. I'll just bother him until he accepts to train me. "I want training and if sensei said that you'd be the best trainer for me then I'm not giving up until you agree."

He poked his head out the second floor window. "You're serious aren't you..."

"That's right."

He dropped down from the window and sat next to me. "Tell you what. If you treat me to some ramen, maybe I'll train you."

I perked up. "Really?" I took out my money pouch. Yes, yes, yes! I'm so happy that I got him to agree.

* * *

Sweatdropping, I watched him finish his 10th bowl. If he isn't Naruto's relative then kill me. And it was unbelievable how young he looked. About 4 years? older than me. That's like 17 years old. And what's up with that mask. It's just like Kakashi sensei to assign this weirdo as my trainer.

"Hey, hey. Are you really good? Like exceptionally good to be my trainer? Because you're pretty young."

He slurped up the remaining ramen, then wiped his mouth with his hand. Ew. "Mm, I'm still a genin if that's what you're asking."

That hit me hard. "Ge... nin?" There was a small silence. "Alright! I see why you didn't want to train me. I'll be on my way. Nice meeting you though." I hopped off my seat and started to march out the booth.

"Whoaa, now." He grabbed my jacket collar. "You still have to pay for my meal, and just because I'm still a genin doesn't mean I'm not good." He put me back on my seat. "And I'm not backing out on my word. I said I would train you and that I will."

"Hmph. That sounds like something Naruto would say." I said.

"Do you mean that crazy blonde haired kid? With the orange jumpsuit? My eternal rival in love for ramen?"

That shocked me. He knew him? "Yeah, that's the one." SUSPICIOUS! He really might be Naruto's relative! "Are you, by any chance, his relative?" I slowly asked.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I'm not!" he roared. He put up his 11th bowl. That freaked me out. "I'm done now."

I sighed. I don't even know if I can afford all this.

"OK! First lesson I'm teaching you is the hardest." I stiffened up.

"What is it?" I asked so eagerly.

"FIRST LESSON IS! The common courtesy of a shinobi."

"EH?! THAT'S NOT HARD AT ALL!" I shouted.

"It's the hardest, because it involves mind, manner and acceptance. I want you to know that respect is important in the ninja business. And true respect can't be earned by strictness or harsh discipline. It's earned by courtesy, knowledge, and intellect. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"When fighting an enemy, don't go all out to destroy him and/or her. You need to know them. Their strengths and their weaknesses. Don't take them as the bad guy. Learn their past. There's only one way to do this. Become close friends with them. If you'll realize, most biggest enemies are close friends. And most enemies may become your friend. Number one priority, however, is to understand or at least accept their concept of life. Learn what it's like to see from their perspective. Don't be biased. And especially. I'm telling you. ESPECIALLY. Don't assume about them. That will gain respect not just from them, but others as well. Second thing is to judge by character and not personality. Character is the ultimate truth about a person. It doesn't matter if they're stubborn old hags or the nicest people ever. It's their character. The structure of character is based on the mind. It's the thoughts that the person is thinking. Someone can be extremely nice, but be thinking 'I'm definitely getting big money out of this.' etc. etc. Are you following me?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good. That's all for today." He disappeared in a flash.

I sweatdropped. That was so short. It was almost not worth the ramen that I'm paying for him. Still, I understood what he was saying. And he's right. These things are very important to know.


	50. Halfway to 100! Whoo!

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 50****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I just can't own Naruto.**

**50th chapter everyone! Yay! Whoo! How exciting is this? This is just too good to be true.**

**

* * *

**

"Hey. Wake up. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey."

Something pointy thing was prodding me over and over again. "Stop." I mumbled.

"Wake up or I"ll strip you naked."

That definitely got me up. I slugged whoever was messing with me. "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I opened my eyes.

"Well that definitely worked." groaned Rangekun-san. "Anyway, lessons will start right now. And this time, take notes."

"Wha?" I whined. It's like 8 in the morning and I already have a little class session already? And what the hell? It's been 5 days since the first lesson.

"You're probably too lazy to get a decent paper and pen, so I brought some." He shoved those into my hands. "You're lucky that I even came here."

I gave him the evil glare. But he wasn't looking at me.

"So. I left off at character, right? I want you to write this down. Character is extremely important. Only if you know their thoughts and view of this world, do you have a true reason to fight them, to hate them, or to love them. You may disagree with them, and you may want to have a sound fight about it, but you have to see the reasons of their thoughts." I could hear the scratching of the pen on the paper. My hands were getting tired. "That's the bad thing about this village." I looked up in surprise.

"Huh?"

"Do you remember when that Naruto kid was always picked on. And he was always alone. The children didn't know what was so bad about him, but they followed what their parents did... That's called ignorance and assumation. When you think about it, it wasn't Naruto that was bad. It was everyone else. It wasn't them crying on the streets, and it wasn't them wondering why they even existed."

Looking back to those times, I realize what he's saying.

"Don't expect the best of the best from other people. But expect their best effort. That's why hardworkers are better than geniuses."

He's hopping around a lot between subjects... I sighed.

"Are you good at math? If you start out low in payment, but it doubles every other day, you can reach to a million in a month. If you start out high in payment, and you receive the same payment throughout the days, then you'll still remain the same. No gains and no losses. In other words, a hardworker starts out low. Their best effort is fairly low. But from all their continuous training and hardwork, it'll double and double until they're one of the best. A genius sees no point in training as much, as they're better than the others. They're the strongest out of them all at that point. Also, they feel that the hardworkers will never meet their level. So a genius may grow a little in skills but they still stay pretty much the same. There are exceptions in what I'm saying, but it's the general overall."

He is so right! I nodded in agreement.

"True strength. True strength can only be shown in life or death situations. There is no trump card. Luck is 10 percent of a victory. Skill is 20 percent. Talent is 20 percent. 50 percent is the will. At the point of death, if you still have the will to win then you'll have the probability of 75 percent. If your will is strong enough, then you'll have 99.9 percent of a win. Will is strength. Will is endurance. I understand that in the second Chuunin Exam, you learned about heaven and earth. Strength and endurance is like that. Strength means you will beat them, endurance means you will not give up in beating them." He stood up. "Let's go on a trip, Kane."

I sweatdropped. "My name's KaneSHI."

"But I like the name Kane!" he whimpered.

Really, he seemed so mature and intelligent and then suddenly into a 5 year old. This world really has many wonders. "Fine, whatever. So where are we going?"

"I don't know. I just ran out of things to say."

I banged my head on the wall. What kind of teacher is this? I'll need to have a talk with Kakashi sensei. I booted Rangekun-san out of my room. "WAIT OUT THERE." I changed into my clothes and hoped he wouldn't take me to a useless place. "What are we doing then?" I asked him as we walked out the door.

"I decided on giving you a test."

I rolled my eyes. If I've ever seen a more random person, that would be the end of the world. "What kind of test?"

"It's an EXTRA SPECIAL test." he beamed. He led me down the streets, past the gate, and onto the training grounds. "I want to see what you can do, Kane."

"Ok." I answered. This was the training I've been waiting for. I started molding chakra.

"All you have to do, is touch me."

That's too easy. "Are you sure? I mean I'm sure that's just way too hard for me to do." I sarcasticly said to him.

"It's harder than it sounds." he grinned.

Such an arrogant guy. I jumped to the trees. If he really is hard to touch, then I'll have to sneak and tackle him. I jumped through the branches, until I was positioned behind him. I moved quickly, with my hands ready to grab him. He didn't even turn around and see me, but he still could dodge me. His body bended over and back up in a flash. I swear I didn't blink. I landed on the ground.

"Tip number one: If you can see the enemy, then the enemy can see you."

Maybe I should try to just go and touch him. I ran at full speed. When I was only halfway there, he simply flicked his finger, and a huge wind pushed me back to the trees. What is up with this guy? I reached into my pouch and dug out my one and only smoke bomb. I threw it at him. Not exactly an original trick to do, but I'm sure it'll work. Rushing into the smoke, I expected to touch him with ease.

"Tip number two: Classic techniques are easy to use, but just as easy to avoid."

I couldn't follow where his voice was coming from. I dashed out of the smoke and searched for him. He was nowhere in sight. I used Byakugan for a clearer view. This was interesting. I couldn't even see him using this.

"Tip number three: Don't always believe your eyes."

He appeared right beside me and gave a swift movement of wrist and another whoosh of wind came across me, blowing me back several feet. This was getting irritating. Exactly what are his abilities? I stood there, concentrating on these things, when he said another tip.

"Tip number four: Never be idle during a fight."

He used his leg this time and another streak of wind hit me. If I can't physically touch him, then I'll just wound him and THEN touch him. I took out kunais and shurikens and threw them at him endlessly, while running in a circle. When I became empty handed, I jumped to the middle where he was. He was still unbelievably uninjured. Pretending to be trying to touch him with my hands I dove down. He swiftly moved to the side, but I wasn't done. Immediately, I swung my leg to hit him, but he jumped. I moved my other leg to get him. For once, I almost touched him. In a series of movements, I started using my arms and legs to maneuver my way in coordination to touch him. Every time I was so close to getting him, but he kept avoiding me. Dodging in every position possible, it looked ridiculous. My chest was burning now. Focusing a great amount of chakra into my arms and legs, trying to speed them up wasn't working. He was too fast. I needed a break. And he wasn't even breaking a sweat. My loss of chakra was affecting me heavily now. Muscles were straining themselves to move. I wished that I could just touch him, just once. My knees crumbled, and I kneeled there breathing hard. He took my wrist and brought me up.

"Tip number five: When I reach to this tip, it means that we'll have to end it for now."

He tossed me a bottle of water. I breathed out with dead air thanks. Gulping it all down, I collapsed. His feet moved toward me then his legs bent down. Holding my head gently, he laid it onto his lap. What a nice guy. Eyelids drooping from exhaustion, I noticed how beautiful his eyes were. Did I mention that he had gorgeous, perfectly straight, long silvery hair?


	51. Fifty First Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 51****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Ruta. My ownership of Naruto expired. **

**Not sure if I mentioned this yet but Odakai is an original character of mine. I'm sure if my audience is smart, they would've realized that. :)**

**

* * *

**

Pitch blackness surrounded me when I woke up. "AHH! I'M BLIND! I'M BLIND!" I screeched, waving my arms wildly.

A hand patted my shoulder and a blindfold slipped off my eyes. "You're not blind." said Rangekun san, calmly.

"Oh." I was relieved, but confused. I'm sure I only slept for a few hours, but I felt so refreshed and replenished. "How long was I out?"

"3 days." He answered, still oh so calmly.

I dazed out for a moment. "3 DAYS?! HOW CAN I SLEEP FOR SO LONG?"

"It's not you, it's this blindfold. It's supposed to hold a person in deep unconsciousness and refills chakra to an extent." He shook it and tied it around his head. Something clicked. That was his mask? And I didn't see the face behind it?! Such disappointment!

"But if it holds a person in deep unconsciousness, why are you still awake?" I asked him.

"Well, I made it so I'm immune to it. But it does replenish my chakra constantly."

That reminded me. "What's your ability as a shinobi? You move so fast, never get tired, and can attack with a simple flick of a wrist."

He thought for a moment. "I trained really hard when I was younger and discovered what my talent was and worked on it."

"And what's your talent?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." He put down his book and gazed at me. "I think you'll find out soon enough."

I shifted in the bed. "What are we doing today?"

"From what I've heard, you have a distinguished talent but you can't control it." He took out my favorite figurine doll. Dropping it to the floor, it shattered. I screamed and hurled my pillow at him. Blocking it, he commanded, "Fix it. If you love it so much, fix it."

"THAT'LL TAKE ME A MILLION YEARS! LOOK AT ALL THESE PIECES!" My face was so flushed from anger.

"You're exaggerating. Now fix it. Stop being so angry and get to work. You can fume about it later."

Shooting him darts of evil glares, I gathered all the pieces into a pile. Taking one shard, I tried to match it with another shard. It didn't work. I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

It was hours before I finally found matching pieces. I waved it in the air to show him. He nodded in pleasure. Vigor sparked its way back into me. I found another piece, 3 pieces, 4. This was easier, now that I found the first two. But they weren't sticking together. "Can I have some glue?" I asked him.

"No. This is part of your training. Do it by yourself."

"EH? That's impossible!!" I whined.

"Focus. That's the only hint I'm giving you."

I surveyed it with such intensity that it started hurting my eyes. I wanted to put it together. I could feel chakra leaving me. Slowly, the two pieces merged together and the crack dissolved.

"I'm going to leave you to it. I'll come back tomorrow." He vanished.

I barely heard and paid no attention. I just put two pieces together, like that time when the mirror repaired itself.

The sun was gone by the time I mended the head of the doll. My stomach grumbled, but I didn't want to lose focus now. Hours later, I had the central body together and attached it to the head. When I finally finished, I set it on the dresser and scrambled back into bed. I was getting vibes of happiness, that I just achieved something great.

* * *

Yawning, I glanced at the clock. Noon. Ah, I'm becoming a sleeping bum. I dragged myself to the kitchen. My tummy growled like a lion. Groaning, I bent over in pain. Falling down, I clawed my way across the floor.

"Is this how you usually wake up?" someone asked.

I looked up. "Is this how you usually greet your students?" I moaned.

"I made ramen for you." He played with my doll that took me forever to fix.

"Don't you dare drop that again." I hissed.

"Haha. I don't think I will." He grinned. "Isn't there a saying, hell has no fury like a woman's scorn?"

"Your mother taught you well." I sighed as I got up and sat in the chair. Eyeing the pot, I breathed in the spicy goodness of ramen. Grabbing chopsticks, I pulled the ramen to me. Slurping up the noodles, I realized how quiet it was. Then I accidentally swallowed the ramen too fast. My eyes were watering and I ran to the sink and started splashing water into my mouth. "God! That was so hot." I spit out.

He still wasn't talking. His expression was so blank.

"Rangekun-san?" I tried to bring him back to life.

Blinking, he shook his head. "Ah, Kane. Do you want something?"

"Weirdo." I said.

"That's so MEAN!" He exclaimed. "But anyway. Today, I'm teaching you something. It's not easy to do so listen carefully."

I was so excited for this.

"You succeeded in my second test. And you proved to me that you're capable of doing it." There was a dramatic pause. "Before you came to me, did you ever do something strange? Something that felt unusual to you?"

"Yeah, yeah! During the preliminary exams, I broke this mirror, but when I touched it, I felt like chakra was leaving me and suddenly the mirror mended itself! But what do I have?"

"You..." Another dramatic pause! "can bring things to life." Gasp! "Not exactly to life, but give cells an extra spurt. Like broken bones or teared tissue, your chakra can speed up their repair rate by 300 percent. It can also double the amount of white blood cells, increasing the power of healing diseases and poisons. And from what your sensei told me, you have the capability to manipulate chakra. Have you noticed how most people can't directly use their chakra to attack? They always add it to their weapon. You, however, can create your own weapons out of chakra. You don't need any equipment and such. But! There is a negative side to your powers. If you can't control it, then you could overwork cells. As in blow them up. That's highly dangerous and mutilates anyone near. And creating things out of chakra takes up a lot of it."

'If you can't control it, then you could overwork cells... dangerous and mutilates anyone near.' I felt so ashamed. Guilt took over me. The memories that I wanted to forget flooded me. "Sensei, how do you know these things?"

He looked stunned for a moment. "Did you just call me sensei? That's the first time! I MUST BE GETTING GOOD AT THIS!" He cheered. Glaring, I kicked him in the shins.

"I'm never calling you that again."

Sigh. "I knew it was too good to be true..."


	52. Fifty Second Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 52****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I finally found Naruto the manga. Yes. Thank you for websites that let you see manga online without downloading or paying.**

**Glubu**

**Naruto is 1 million miles away from me. No way can I own it.**

**

* * *

**

Day one of serious training and no talkity talk by the lame yet gorgeous/mature/not that mature trainer.

Opening my eyes as soon as the sun started rising, I cooked up some ramen and rice. After finishing my breakfast, I headed out to the training grounds. 10:00 AM was our meeting time. I hope he's not a Sorry-I-got-lost-on-the-path-of-life type of guy. In other words, another Kakashi sensei. Unfortunately, having no watch, I came to the grounds later than I thought I'd be.

"Oy! Kane! You're late!" He shouted over to me.

"Haha... Sorry, got lost on the path of life. And I forgot my watch too..." I winced at myself, fascinated that I went as far as to use sensei's excuse.

"Ooh. I see dear Kakashi does influence his students." He grinned, so widely. "Well, since you don't have a watch, I guess our beginning lesson will be, how to tell time using nature." He scavenged the ground and brought out a stick. "First, get a stick and stick it to the ground. Make sure you're in an open space, without too much crowding of trees. Now, you just look at the shadow. If it's toward the middle and really small, then it's around noon. If it's too the left and longer, it's morning. If it's in the opposite direction, then it's evening. If there's no sun, then it must be night. Or a cloudy day. So to tell the exact time, find the distance of the shadow from the middle, far left and far right." He was lying down on the ground, looking so excited about this. Having joined him, I oohed and aahed for him. With a little bit of I see I see! He went into another one of those dazed out phases. Then, suddenly straightening himself up, he said, "Let's get back to business."

I always wonder exactly what he could be thinking while being dazed out. "So what are we doing today?"

"Today, I'll be teaching you that technique from our pretest of your skills." My eyes were blazing with such apprehension. "It's not as easy as it looks. You have to be able to control your chakra, so you'll be able to let out the amount that you want to let out. I understand that Kakashi taught you how to walk up trees. It's similar to what I'm about to teach you." Reaching into his pocket, he laid out 5 different objects. "You're goal, is to have picked up each of these objects using the right amount of chakra. Starting with the smallest one."

Imaginary question marks popped out of my head, as I picked one up easily. "Is this supposed to be this easy?"

Slapping my hand, the whatever-it-is dropped. "WRONG! I guess you'll need a visual aid for this." Leaning down, he put his hand right above the thingy, without touching it. Chakra started visibly burning and he raised the object. Without ever touching it, mind you.

"Oh, I see." I nodded. I leaned over too and started focusing chakra into my hand. It was being released and I picked it up. Grinning, I said, "How's that?"

"Now try the second one."

This one was slightly bigger. It looked a bit heavier too. Doing the same as last time, I released chakra and I was halfway in picking it up, before it dropped. Furrowing my eyebrows, I tried again, releasing more chakra. I successfully levitated it.

"You're actually getting good at this."

Moving on, I put my hand over the third one. This was a lot bigger and a lot more heavier. I exerted a big amount of chakra, suddenly. Too sudden. The object exploded and my hand was singed. "Aah." I screamed lightly. His arm pushed me back, roughly.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he examined my hand. It didn't look too bad and it didn't hurt so much. "You have to be careful. Chakra is a dangerous substance. And you should be glad that those objects reform even after you blow them up." He flourished his hand towards that thing that I accidentally exploded. The pieces were being absorbed into a whole, like it was magnetized or something. "I want to show you something. I knew that something like this would happen. So I was saving this until you did it. Before actually trying to levitate an object, pick it up and weigh it in your hand. Measure the effort that you have to give and that's the amount of chakra that you should release. You try."

I weighed it on my hand. Then setting it down, I did what he told me to do. Releasing chakra by the effort that I had to give to hold that thing, it perfectly balanced in the air underneath my hand.

"Not bad. You're actually a very fast learner." He remarked.

I weighed the fourth object in my hand, and did the same. This was going very smoothly. I successfully lifted the last object and waited impatiently for my next lesson.

"You're unbelievably fast at learning this."

I laughed in embarrassment. "I'm actually very bad at learning."

"Well, maybe you changed."

"This is such a lame conversation!" I kept laughing.

"You're right, you're right!" he played along with me. "So, the next technique I will teach you... is to attack with controlled chakra."

"Isn't this going too fast? I mean, I have nothing against it, but sensei usually didn't teach us more than one thing a day."

"I don't remember teaching you only one thing a day..."

"I meant KAKASHI sensei." What an idiot. "I learned to never call you sensei again."

"SNOW QUEEN!" He whined.

He is truly a weird weird guy.


	53. Fifty Third Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 53****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I finally found Naruto the manga. Yes. Thank you for websites that let you see manga online without downloading or paying.**

**Glubu**

**Naruto is 1 million miles away from me. No way can I own it.**

**

* * *

**

Day one of serious training and no talkity talk by the lame yet gorgeous/mature/not that mature trainer.

Opening my eyes as soon as the sun started rising, I cooked up some ramen and rice. After finishing my breakfast, I headed out to the training grounds. 10:00 AM was our meeting time. I hope he's not a Sorry-I-got-lost-on-the-path-of-life type of guy. In other words, another Kakashi sensei. Unfortunately, having no watch, I came to the grounds later than I thought I'd be.

"Oy! Kane! You're late!" He shouted over to me.

"Haha... Sorry, got lost on the path of life. And I forgot my watch too..." I winced at myself, fascinated that I went as far as to use sensei's excuse.

"Ooh. I see dear Kakashi does influence his students." He grinned, so widely. "Well, since you don't have a watch, I guess our beginning lesson will be, how to tell time using nature." He scavenged the ground and brought out a stick. "First, get a stick and stick it to the ground. Make sure you're in an open space, without too much crowding of trees. Now, you just look at the shadow. If it's toward the middle and really small, then it's around noon. If it's too the left and longer, it's morning. If it's in the opposite direction, then it's evening. If there's no sun, then it must be night. Or a cloudy day. So to tell the exact time, find the distance of the shadow from the middle, far left and far right." He was lying down on the ground, looking so excited about this. Having joined him, I oohed and aahed for him. With a little bit of I see I see! He went into another one of those dazed out phases. Then, suddenly straightening himself up, he said, "Let's get back to business."

I always wonder exactly what he could be thinking while being dazed out. "So what are we doing today?"

"Today, I'll be teaching you that technique from our pretest of your skills." My eyes were blazing with such apprehension. "It's not as easy as it looks. You have to be able to control your chakra, so you'll be able to let out the amount that you want to let out. I understand that Kakashi taught you how to walk up trees. It's similar to what I'm about to teach you." Reaching into his pocket, he laid out 5 different objects. "You're goal, is to have picked up each of these objects using the right amount of chakra. Starting with the smallest one."

Imaginary question marks popped out of my head, as I picked one up easily. "Is this supposed to be this easy?"

Slapping my hand, the whatever-it-is dropped. "WRONG! I guess you'll need a visual aid for this." Leaning down, he put his hand right above the thingy, without touching it. Chakra started visibly burning and he raised the object. Without ever touching it, mind you.

"Oh, I see." I nodded. I leaned over too and started focusing chakra into my hand. It was being released and I picked it up. Grinning, I said, "How's that?"

"Now try the second one."

This one was slightly bigger. It looked a bit heavier too. Doing the same as last time, I released chakra and I was halfway in picking it up, before it dropped. Furrowing my eyebrows, I tried again, releasing more chakra. I successfully levitated it.

"You're actually getting good at this."

Moving on, I put my hand over the third one. This was a lot bigger and a lot more heavier. I exerted a big amount of chakra, suddenly. Too sudden. The object exploded and my hand was singed. "Aah." I screamed lightly. His arm pushed me back, roughly.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he examined my hand. It didn't look too bad and it didn't hurt so much. "You have to be careful. Chakra is a dangerous substance. And you should be glad that those objects reform even after you blow them up." He flourished his hand towards that thing that I accidentally exploded. The pieces were being absorbed into a whole, like it was magnetized or something. "I want to show you something. I knew that something like this would happen. So I was saving this until you did it. Before actually trying to levitate an object, pick it up and weigh it in your hand. Measure the effort that you have to give and that's the amount of chakra that you should release. You try."

I weighed it on my hand. Then setting it down, I did what he told me to do. Releasing chakra by the effort that I had to give to hold that thing, it perfectly balanced in the air underneath my hand.

"Not bad. You're actually a very fast learner." He remarked.

I weighed the fourth object in my hand, and did the same. This was going very smoothly. I successfully lifted the last object and waited impatiently for my next lesson.

"You're unbelievably fast at learning this."

I laughed in embarrassment. "I'm actually very bad at learning."

"Well, maybe you changed."

"This is such a lame conversation!" I kept laughing.

"You're right, you're right!" he played along with me. "So, the next technique I will teach you... is to attack with controlled chakra."

"Isn't this going too fast? I mean, I have nothing against it, but sensei usually didn't teach us more than one thing a day."

"I don't remember teaching you only one thing a day..."

"I meant KAKASHI sensei." What an idiot. "I learned to never call you sensei again."

"SNOW QUEEN!" He dramatically said.

He is truly a weird weird guy.


	54. Fifty Fourth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 54****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I'd try to buy Naruto, but obviously, I'm too poor to own it**

**

* * *

**"So! Attacking with controlled chakra is really hard. But since you passed the controlling chakra phase, your only problem is to aim and how to figure out how much chakra you should release. Today, you will be learning how to aim." Rangekun-san held up a bow and arrows. "This bow is specially designed to adjust to the holder's chakra. The speed and distance of the arrow will depend on that." He equipped it. "The other thing that you will benefit from this is arm strength. You need to have strength in your arms to keep endurance when attacking. Put the arrow on like this... Pull back the string... And shoot!" The arrow flew across the sky and in the woods. There was a small explosion as the arrow landed and several trees fell down. He winked at me and said, "These arrows can carry chakra like bombs or any other type of weapon you'd like." 

"Did you make this too?"

"Haha. Yeah, I created a lot of these things."

There was something suspicious about him. I mean, he seemed pretty genious and child prodigy like, but he didn't work as a ninja for the Konoha Village. Instead, he lived on the outskirts doing who knows what. "Is there a reason why you quit being a ninja?" I asked.

Instead of answering, he simply handed me the bow and arrows. "Try shooting." he suggested. Was he swatting away my question? This must be some interesting history. I slipped the arrow onto the bow and pulled back the string as hard as I could. I didn't aim at the woods, I aimed for his head.

"Answer my question, **_sensei_**." I threatened.

"I don't think you're ready to kill people with this yet..." he shrugged off my threatening pose.

I moved the arrow. "But I'm definitely ready to hurt you, if not hitting a vital point of your body." Staring at him hard, I said again, "Answer my question. Did you not say to know your enemy better before fighting? We're not enemies now, but you never know."

"At least I know that you pay attention when I talk..." he sighed. "Ok... fine... You better guarantee me a year supply of ramen. You treating me, anytime I want. Because what I'm about to tell you isn't something that I would like to talk about... especially you."

I felt insulted. But that doesn't matter. His past was something that I've been curious about for ages now.

"I was only 3 years old when this happened. That means that I don't remember any of it, but from what Kakashi tells me, my sister was a leading ninja. Reaching jounin level at an early age, genius in mind, leading most S-ranked missions... They say her chakra level was beyond the highly skilled. But our bloodline explains for most of this. Our mother was an Uchiha, while our father was a Hyuuga. It's rare that a blood mix like this would happen. No one expected for both of us to have the abilities of Sharingan and Byakugan. Some called us revolutionizing children. Word of our abilities spread far from the village. So far, that a certain exiled ninja heard. You might've met him... his name was Orochimaru. He wanted to gain this ability and include this in a baby experiment he was having. This lead to him personally killing my parents, and my sister... His original goal was me. Haha. I heard also that my sister's greatest weakness was her kindness. Could never kill a single enemy. She merely told them to change their lifestyle, but she wasn't going to force them to. Her motto always was: It is not up to a person to choose whether another lives or dies. I suppose I should tell you the reason why Orochimaru didn't want her. She was deadly. Having trained hard in all 3 ninja techniques. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu. She even created her own moves. The villagers thought that she would be the next Hokage. I guess you could say he was afraid of her. So when she fought him to protect me, he was probably scared witless. But she was too. She didn't want another family member to die. So she offered herself to him, so he would take her abilities and leave me be. Of course, Orochimaru accepted this. Soon after he left after assuming that he killed her, Kakashi appeared on the scene. With her last breath, she asked of him to save the baby that would have her powers from Orochimaru's grasp." He paused.

I was fascinated by this story. This sister of his, who would never kill anyone. She died for him.

"This is where you come in, Kaneshi." He said. "Kakashi knew that it would take about 3 years for the baby experiment to develop, so he took that time to search for its location. When those 3 years were over, I was 6. I lived with him. I actually thought that he was my father. I mean, we have almost that same hair color. The morning he was about to leave to go on his rescue mission for you, I followed him. Out of curiosity, mostly. I did notice how he seemed obsessed with finding this mysterious place. But of course, he caught me before he even left the village. After an hour of begging, he finally let me go. He told me the whole story first and then left it to me whether I wanted to go or not. Being a child with less intelligence than most, I tagged along. I can't say I regret going with him, because that's when I discovered what I could do. He told me the seriousness of this situation and the fatal risks. I ignored most of that and just barged into the place. Kakashi held off all the enemies while I used my own type of Byakugan/Sharingan to find you. By the time you were in my arms, me and Kakashi were wounded in numerous places. But we did whatever we could to protect you. When we finally got out and far away, I asked that you be given a father, so you could live a normal childhood."

The face of that father appeared in my mind.

"Apparently, it didn't work out well, did it... You ended up here, when you were 7 years old. I was 10 years old at that time and I was infuriated. Because in my adolescence, I believed you to be the killer of my family. Even when I was 6, I was hoping that you'd never come to the village. I feared meeting you. But here we are, now... 6 years later. Kakashi assigned me to be your temporary trainer..." He leaned into my ear and whispered, "And I think I'm falling in love..."

Blushing crazily, I slugged him hard. "DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT AGAIN!"

"Uck. I think you immobilized me this time." he groaned.


	55. Fifty Fifth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 55****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**If only Naruto could be auctioned off...**

**I've gone back to drawing manga stuff. Oddly enough, I can't draw girls anymore. Wuh oh. It's all guys for me:)**

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* * *

**

In the end, he didn't really answer my question, but I did learn something. It brought up more questions as well. I understand why he would hate me, but why did he agree to training me? But the real question is, DID HE REALLY MEAN IT WHEN HE SAID HE LIKED ME? Ahhh! I stretched my cheek. Then slapped it. Then stretched the other. Slapping that one too. A continuous cycle of a habit I do when I truly have nothing to do. I was just itching to see the face behind the veil. I let out a squeal and hugged my pillow. I realized that I was acting like Sakura. Ugh. The least thing I want to do. My calendar caught my eye. 15 days until the 3rd match. I wonder how Naruto and Sasuke are doing. They're probably training their butts off. Ah. I should go visit Rock Lee. He may not be my friend, but it'd be nice to become his friend. I hopped off my bed and was facing the door when the lock clicked by itself. Naturally, I jumped back and prepared myself for a burglar or someone like that. A silver head poked in. 

"Yo, Kaneshi-chan!"

I blushed crimson. "What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Well, I was thinking that we should train today since you broke me yesterday."

"Too bad. I'm going to go visit someone in the hospital."

"Oh? Then I'll go with you."

Urg. This is just great. A situation where I don't know what to do with him, but he insists on tagging along. "Fine, fine. Whatever. I'm going to the flowershop first."

He grabbed my hand and said, "I know the perfect place!" Dragging me down the streets, we came upon the Yamanaka flower shop. AKA Ino's flower shop. He opened the door. Lucky for me, dear Ino was there, managing the shop. I decided to take force from there and hid along the taller flower aisles. "What are you doing, Kaneshi?" he asked.

"Shh. I'm looking for the perfect flowers." I whispered to him, while keeping a close eye on Ino. She seemed curious on what was going on. She was stretching her neck to catch a glimpse of the two hiders in her shop.

"Oh ok." he whispered back. Suddenly, he stood up straight and held up his hand. "Uh, Yamanaka-san, me and my girlfriend are looking for the perfect flowers for a friend in the hospital. Could you help us?"

I gaped at him in horror on what he said. Girlfriend, he said. Girlfriend? She was coming to us. I shouldn't look suspicious! I stood up straight as well and waved to her.

"Kaneshi-chan?!" she exclaimed. "You have a boyfriend?"

I poked him in the ribs, aggressively so that he winced in pain. "No, he's my temporary sensei." I caught the glint of glee in his eyes when I said that.

"He's so young, though!"

"Not that young." I replied.

"I'm 16 years old."

"3 years older?!" Eye popping news all right. I sighed. This wasn't getting any better.

"Ino-chan, I'm visiting Rock Lee, and I thought that maybe I should buy him some flowers." I said in my most politest and lovingest manner.

Her face changed. "I see... Sakura-chan was here earlier, too... For the same reason..." She walked down the aisle and went to the counter. Searching somewhere near there, she brought out a bouquet of daisies. "I think this will suit you. And it's on the house." She winked.

"Ah, thank you." I murmured. The daisies were beautiful. Holding it, I walked out of the store. "Rangekun-san, let's go! Hurry up! Move it!" I said fiercely.

"Ok, ok." he laughed. When we arrived at the hospital, I walked a bit faster, at least by a step. The clerk smiled at us.

"Who are you here for?" She asked.

"We're here to visit Rock Lee." I told her.

"Oh, I'll take you there, but in his weak state, the visiting time is limited." She rose and grabbed a set of jangling keys. She powerwalked through the hallways until she reached a certain room. She unlocked the door and said in a singsong voice, "Lee-san? You have some friends here to see you!"

I peeped inside, to see the mushroom boy staring lustfully outside. "Rock Lee?"

"H-Hello Kaneshi-chan! And ... Rangekun-san?!" he greeted us.

What a shock! "You know him?" I asked, big-eyed, while punching Naruto Sr. in the stomach. He groaned.

"We're really only acquaintances, but when I still went to the academy, he stopped by every now and then and helped me train. I guess you could call him my first motivation..."

First motivation... I heard Rock Lee's story before... The boy who couldn't use any ninja-style techniques. But he didn't give up there and took on taijutsu, because that was one that depended on physical skill and not the mind and/or chakra. I didn't expect Rangekun-san to be the one who helped him out. After all, he must've only been 13? Hell, that's my age right now!

"Well, I thought that I should visit you, Lee-san. I brought you some flowers, too." I smiled at him and merged my bouquet with the single flower in the vase next to the window.

"Thank you.. Kaneshi-chan."

Rangekun-san walked over to him. Patting him on the back, he softly said, "If you're committed, nothing can stop you from meeting your goals." A shining hope burned in Lee's eyes.

"Thank you.. Those words were what I needed. Rangekun-san."

We left him to rest and I squatted down outside. "So, how do you think he's doing?" I asked him.

He was scanning the sky. "He'll be fine." He said again, "He'll be fine."


	56. Fifty Sixth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 56****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**If only Naruto could be auctioned off...**

**Naruto equals Love**

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* * *

**

"Yo, Kane-chan!" called Rangekun-san. Waving his hand, he beckoned to me. He seemed to be in travelling clothes. Added to that, he was carrying a traveller's pouch. Or is it a bag..

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked, as I came upon him.

"Aha. That's what I want to talk to you about. See.." He took out a map. "We're going to go TRAVELLING!"

"Riighht... And exactly where are we going?" I sarcasticly asked. Come on, like we would actually go somewhere.

"Well, you see... I was planning on a roadtrip, or is it a backpacking trip... But we have no destination and we're just going to go to a random place!"

Crazy. He's just crazy. "Alright then. I'll join you." I said. But when were we going? "But, I have one condition. We have to be back here by the time of the 3rd Chuunin Exam." Turning around, I sighed, "I'm going to go pack now." My ears were pounding, giving me a headache, for some reason. And there was a slight buzzing noise, going on and on constantly. Suddenly, arms wrapped around me. Heat rose to my face. Was he glomping me!?

"I knew you'd say yes." He gently murmured. Putting my hands on his arms, I was annoyed. Partly because who gave him the right to hug me like this? and that buzz just pisses me off. I boxed my ears. Unfortunately, his head was right beside my left ear. Crashing to the ground, he yelped. "What was that for?!" he pouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just had a slight itch on my ear." I replied. Waving goodbye to him, I walked away.

"Be ready to leave tomorrow morning!" He told me.

* * *

Grumbling, I haggled my way to Konoha's gates. My body was suddenly aching and my eyes were so tired. And that consistent buzzing noise just WASN'T STOPPING. Argh. I was carrying a saddlebag. Light and easy, so travelling wouldn't be a troublesome thing. Ha. Shikamaru did influence me in a slight way. I chuckled to myself. Stepping out of Konoha, I breathed in deeply. Looking around, I sweatdropped.

"Ne, ne. Isn't that too much, Rangekun-san?" I wheezed out. My finger was pointing at his ginormous bag, stuffed to its limits. If that was me carrying it, I'd be huffing and puffing and sweating like the almighty.

"Hahaha. Size doesn't matter, sweet pea. As long as it's light as air. Light. As. Air." Giving me the OK sign, he winked. Sweet pea? Just what did Kakashi teach him while growing up? Maybe he was super strong. Even if he didn't seem like it... Ah, well. I shrugged. He punched the air and shouted, "Off we go!!" I laughed. What a dummy. "Aww. Don't laugh at me." But he was laughing too. What a journey this was going to be.

Unfurling the map, he held it high. "Ok! So, we're going to head off in this direction then go down that road and hopefully end up in a town where we can gather more nourishments." All I could see was a bunch of zigzag lines that go nowhere.

"Right, right. Should we.. start off now?" I flourished my hand towards the path.

"Yes, we shall."

We both raced down the road for several hours with occasional brief conversations. Mostly about the different kinds of ramen that we've eaten in our lifetime... Yes, I know. It's a weird topic. When the sun was setting, we took a rest stop on the rooftops of the trees. He suggested it. To watch the sunset. He called it a miraculous phenomenon, because it's a beautiful and wonderous thing that happens everyday. But few people take the time to take it all in and swim in its beauty. His nonsense makes sense to me. Maybe he's a sensible person, or maybe I'm just as crazy as him. Either way, he was right. The colors made my skin tingle and a goosebump sensation flowed through me. Happiness, more likely the calm feeling of serenity, crept in. Rangekun-san suddenly rose.

"Can you hear that, Kane-chan?"

I focused chakra to my ears, and listened hard. Faint cries and yells for mercy. That's what I could hear. "Yes, I can, Rangekun-san."

He nodded. "You know where we're going now, right?"

I nodded back. "Our first destination."


	57. Fifty Seventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 57****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**If only Naruto could be auctioned off...**

**Naruto equals Love**

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* * *

**

Dreary and bleak lands surrounded us. Dead trees, ruined homes, ashes of what used to be there. What happened here?! Staring wildly at this, I looked to Rangekun-san. Shockingly, his veil was gone. It was held tightly in his hands. But the biggest surprise was how beautiful his face was. Ivory skin, perfect nose, beautiful eyes. My heart was going _buh-bump buh-bump._

"Kaneshi-chan. I think you know what our mission is." He said through clenched teeth.

"I have a pretty good idea." I was furious as well.

"Smart as ever."

"I know."

We walked down this destroyed townstreet. Blood was splattered here and there. Rage was churning up inside of me, until a fragile little boy scampered up to us. He tugged at my jacket. I looked down at him. Bending over, I caressed his face. He was so thin. Nothing but skin and bones. Literally. Bruises covered his body. Dirt littered his hair.

"Lady... lady.. My people need help." he coughed out. Rangekun-san picked him up.

I patted him on the back. "I know. I know." I held back my tears. I've never seen a sadder thing than this. "Rangekun-san, do we still have food?"

"Tons. We have tons. Don't worry." He reassured me. Walking into a wrecked house, he set him down against the wall. Rummaging through his big bag, he brought out food. A feast's full platter of food. I wanted to take a bite, but I didn't. The person who needed it the most was this little boy right here. His little hand was shaking as he stuffed his face. After three huge bites, he stopped. Picking up the platter, he started moving out. I peered out the shattered glass window, and saw him walking down the street with the happiest face. People were crawling out of their houses, looking even worse than him. Rangekun-san joined him and put him on his shoulder. He gestured for me to come out too. Stepping out, I picked up a frail little girl. She was unbelievably light. I heard Rangekun-san speaking. "We'd like to know how this town has gone into shambles."

* * *

"It all started when our town let in a convicted underlord. He was famished and dying. For a month, he lived with us, worked with us, and became one of us. We thought that he had changed and let go of his previous life. But after that single month, his employees came to find him. Having been one of us, he knew our weaknesses and strengths and used that knowledge to destroy our town and rule over it. For 5 years now, he terrorized over us, stealing everything we own, burning down buildings and turned us into slaves. We labor over our farms for him, gaining nothing in return. H-he--he's a monster!" The leader cried out. Rangekun-san paced back and forth. His bag was empty now, as it had just enough food to give everyone a meal, excluding us. 

"Did you even try fighting back?" he asked.

"Sensei, how would th--" he interrupted me by putting his finger against my mouth.

"Shh. Kane-chan. Let them speak."

"We didn't want to let people die and hoped that it would come to pass." he hung his head.

"They die either way, so why not let them die honorably?"

"You are right! But how can they fight now?! You have to help us! All the other passerbys ignored this problem and moved on! Please! We're begging you!" the man grabbed his cloak in utter despair.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to leave, but..." he stretched and laid down. "I am going to sleep first." He pulled me down next to him. "Kaneshi-chan, you should sleep too." I didn't know what to do but listen to him. Drowsiness immediately came into effect.

* * *

Loud banging noises woke me up. It was still dark out. A small torch was lit in front of my face. 

"Hey, get up." someone whispered. He gently kicked my leg. I sat up. Rangekun-san was already awake. The person who woke me up's face loomed up. "Did you have a nice sleep?" I was shocked. This guy was pretty young, and didn't look as starved as the other villagers did. "I'm Hotaru, and I'll be your guide today." He seemed pretty amiable. His hand was held out for me to shake. I shook it. "All right, all right! I knew this day would come! What a great day!"

"Yeah!" Rangekun-san gave him a high five. What the hell?

He put his arm around my shoulder. "What's your name, hon?" Rangekun-san turned evil and kicked his booty out. Hotaru raised his hand in apology and came back in. "Sorry, sorry. She's just too pretty to ignore."

"Hehe. Isn't that so true." sensei giggled. Look at them pathetic boys. I shaked my head in shame. A siren interrupted us. It was wailing, and it was highly obnoxious. Covering my ears, I looked out the window. Some man was carrying a megaphone. He seemed to think he was all high and mighty. Hotaru pulled me back.

"Stay inside, and make sure they don't see any of you." he whispered. "This is rolecall." Walking out, he winked and joined the flanks of withered men, women and children. He was taller than most of them, so he stood out well. The man with the megaphone also had an iron rod. Every few people, he would poke one of them... as if they were mere toys. A child stumbled over the mud and splashed the man's clothes. I heard the whistling noise of the rod. A piercing scream shattered the somber silence. Crying followed it. A trail of blood was seen on the ground. Its source... was Hotaru. He stood there like a grinning moron, holding the child. "I would rather if violence could be avoided." he laughed. A lonely laugh. The rod striked him, causing a big gash on his shoulder. Standing back up, he said again, "I would rather if violence could be avoided."

"What are you? The village idiot?!" the rod-carrying man laughed just as lonely as Hotaru did.

"Rangekun-san!" I sharply whispered. "Shouldn't we help?"

With his eyes closed, he said, "No. We have to respect his orders."

"But--!"

"Respect. His orders." he repeated. Hotaru was being pulverized on the street. Not fighting back, but constantly saying, "I would rather if violence could be avoided."

He's either smart or retarded. To try to keep peace... but in a situation like this... pssh. As if violence can be avoided.


	58. Fifty Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 58****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**I'm serious! Naruto was in my hands but then it flew away!**

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"Thank you.. for not coming out." Hotaru stumbled in. Blood dripped down from everywhere. Not once did he fight back. Is he insane? I ran over and caught him before he fell to the ground.

"Sensei, you said that I can heal wounds, right?" I asked. Ripping off a piece of my shirt, I tried to prevent anymore blood loss, but it was impossible. So many cuts everywhere! Sensei walked over and placed his hand on Hotaru's head.

"I'll take care of him for now. Because for all we know, you could make him go boom boom." He made childish explosion sounds. Sitting, he meditated and visible chakra seeped into Hotaru. Cuts slowly healed, as Hotaru looked stunned at the sight of this. I was stunned myself, but then again, he did have the same capabilities as me and probably knew how to use them better. I don't know if that's supposed to make me happy or sad...

"You're ninjas, aren't you?" he asked abruptly.

"Why yes, I consider myself a ninja, I suppose." sensei answered. Stroking an imaginary beard or mustache, he pretended to think hard.

"Why are you helping us?" He didn't seem as friendly as he was before. "You're not gaining any money from us. You've seen how poor we are. What is your reason? Are you going to take control instead? Are you looking for a moment of glory?" he said spitefully. This was shocking. I looked from sensei to him and back to sensei. His face showed no distress or any other negative emotion. "Are you tricking us into thinking we can trust you, but then going to sabotage us?! Huh?! Is that your plan?!!"

On impulse, I slapped him. Biting back my lip, which was trembling. My hand was burning from the pain of slapping such a thin and sharp face. "Don't say that. Don't you ever say that." I found myself saying. "We're not here for money. We don't need power. And there is no glory in sabotaging others. I understand that your town must've gone through horrible ordeals caused by other ninjas, but we're not like that. Everyone is different. So don't you dare compare or relate us to them."

He rubbed his cheek. His cold eyes glared elsewhere, but then they softened. Giggling behind his hand, he whispered to sensei, "She's so cute when she's angry."

"Hehehe. I know! I know!"

Stupidbutts. At least he had a change of heart.

* * *

Hotaru marched in, wielding 2 swords. Three days had already passed and starvation was affecting me. "Okay, sensei and Kaneshi-chan. I've decided that tomorrow, we'll fight." 

"Good idea. I was thinking the same thing." nodded sensei.

My stomach growled. It wasn't just a small, stifled gurgle. It was more like a foghorn with a 10000 km diameter. So embarrassing!! I pretended to not notice that gigantic, earth shaking roar of a lion. So why did they have to stare at me strangely? ARGH! They brushed it off.

"There's a part of the story that hasn't been told yet." said Hotaru. "This town has been in a severe drought ever since it was taken over. The citizens believe now that the day that it rain, will be the day their freedom will be granted once again. I wish to bring that day to them. Tomorrow, we will head off. I will lead you to the building where they live. From there, we'll separate and hope to meet again in the end."

"It's not hope. We Will." said sensei.

He grinned. "Alright then. We'll separate and will meet again in the end."

"Yes." I said. The next day Will be exciting.

* * *

Early morning. The first thing I did was grab my stomach and wait for the attack of my hungry stomach to end, then I hopped off our portable futon. Sensei wasn't anywhere to be seen, so he must've already gone to our meeting point. I ran there, to see them waiting for me. They acknowledged my presence and we all set off, with Hotaru leading. After a few hours, a massive building loomed up. So big. We had another meeting behind a bush. 

"Ok. I'll go in this way. You two go in that way and that way. The boss's room is way up there on the 5th floor. We'll meet there and have it all done for." He beamed and gave us a good guy thumbs up.

Right. I crossed my fingers as I approached my appointed entrance. It was empty. No enemy in sight. Carelessly, I stepped onto the grounds, where I triggered a trap. A piece of rope was tied tightly around my legs as I dangled from the iron pole it hung from. I cut it with a kunai, only to trigger the back up trap to that. Talk about feeling deja vu. Cutting myself down again, I used Byakugan to track down any other traps and carefully avoided them. Let's admit it, I was pretty disappointed in the traps that they provided. Puh-lease. A piece of rope, some net and a pothole covered with leaves? How could they possibly hold a town captive for 5 years? I groaned out loud. Slamming the wall, I shouted, "IS THIS ALL YOU CAN GIVE ME?! I'M DISAPPOINTED!!"

I waited to hear a response of running footsteps. But it was all to waste. Should I consider myself lucky? That this mansion was empty? But if it's empty, then wouldn't this dictator man be gone as well? Whatever. If I have no one to fight, I guess I should be glad. Gathering chakra to my feet, I leaped off and grabbed hold of the pole. Swinging myself, full force, I sprung off and crashed through the second floor window. With no guards, I'll be taking the shortcut then.

"I believe I heard someone say that they're disappointed?" I stiffened. I didn't even sense their chakra nearing me! "I'll have to apologize, but we never expected actual ninjas to be entering our grounds. And we don't keep useless henchmen that will die on first touch." This guy was close enough to breath down my neck. "And I'll apologize ahead of time for your death." Goosebumps rose. Raising my arm, I swiped at the air towards him, releasing a blade of chakra. I'm thinking about running away... No. No, I won't run away. Wimps run away. Cowards run away. And especially.. Naruto would never run away. He jumped back, dodging it. I turned around to face him head on.

"Ha. What are you trying to say? I should just give up? You think you're so strong? You know what that'll make me do? Laugh even harder when you're beat by a girl that's 20 years younger than you." I was hoping these words would give me strength rather than weaken him.

"You got guts, kid." he sneered. "But I'll give you my patience and wait until you realize exactly what situation you're in. You're only a genin, aren't you? So you better start running."

Mimicking him, I replied with scorn, "You're looking pretty frail there old man. Better retire before I shatter your bones." Damn it all that I didn't get to the lesson of knowing how much chakra to release when it comes to a real fight. It's not like I can lift him up and weigh him... or can I? Now that I think about it.. This is my first official fight as a genin, excluding the matches in the Chuunin Exams.


	59. Fifty Ninth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 59****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Why I don't own Naruto: It rejected me!**

**Yay! I had my 100th review! So for this special time, let's reminiscence on my story. I was reading over it. More like skimming. More like just racing through the chapters. But I did notice significant change in writing style and improvement. Hooray. I noticed a few errors here and there and some chapters that were missing and some chapters that repeated themselves... and yes.. as the author I should fix that... but I'm only 13!! Let's face it. I'm just a LITTLE too lazy. Procrastination Sensation everyone. **

**I watched the newest Naruto: Shippuden show. :) Great. Much better than the ones before it. Well the fillers at least were like crap. Ugh. So I changed my story format. I will not write for every single show of Naruto. I'll just write until it's the very last episode of Naruto that's going according to the manga.**

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I cracked my knuckles. For now, let's begin with a bit of releasing chakra. A brilliant idea swept through my mind on how to do this. I raised my arm, in the form of a gun. One of those little toy finger guns that little kids play with.

"Let's be serious with this fight." the man grunted.

"Before we start, I'll tell you my name. And you'll tell me yours. So both ways, we'll know who our victors were."

"You got class, kid. The name's Turido Gande. But I don't need to know yours."

"Oh yes you do. Mine's Tensake Kaneshi. Be glad I told you before I finished you off in one blow." All the chakra that I gathered to the tip of my index blasted away. It took the shape of an enormous pointed bullet. What I didn't expect was for it to hit him full force. After the whole booms and crashes receded, I checked out the damage I did. "Oh my..." I covered my mouth in horror. Turido was cut everywhere! Blood was spurting out of every piece of skin that was sliced apart. Regret filled me. I never wanted to kill him. I don't want to be another murderous ninja who lusts after blood and death. I should move on quickly so I can meet them at the appointed time... but... Looking towards the hallway that would lead me to my destination goal, I couldn't decide. ... No man or woman is going to die by my hands. I sat down next to Turido and immediately started to heal him. In fear of taking it too fast and exploding his cells, I used only a trickle of chakra. The skin was attaching themselves up and bloodflow stopped. It was going quicker than I expected. When the last wound was sealed, he gained consciousness. Panicking, since I don't want to fight him all over again, I punched him, blacking him out. A simple bloody nose is something that I can take.

I walked down the hall, cautiously. Who knows what else can be waiting for me? Enough time was already used. The best to do would be to run. That's right. Lifting my legs to go on my fastest speed, I started running. 5th floor he said. I'll be going to the 5th floor. I am so lucky that there are no henchmen here. No reckless killing sprees. I arrived at the 3rd floor. Several men were lying about, blacked out. So they came before me.. Hurriedly, I rushed to the fourth floor. It was the same. How long did I take? Fifth floor. I couldn't remember which room it was that I was supposed to go to. I kicked down every door that I came across. Empty, empty, empty. Three doors were left.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The three me's kicked down the doors at the same time.

"Yo! Kane-chan!" Sensei's voice came from the door to the right.

"Odakai-sama!" I said. He stood there, waving at me like the bumbling moron he is. Hotaru-san was holding a kunai at the neck of someone sitting in a grand chair. Sensei was sitting on top of that man from earlier that was beating Hotaru-san.

"Kaneshi-chan! Nice to see you could make it!" Hotaru-san greeted me.

"Hey..." I breathed out. I couldn't believe it. The man sitting in the chair... he... he looked exactly like my fake dad! Stepping forward, my finger twitched. How was I supposed to react to this? Hug him? or yell at him for tyrannizing over a poor town. I was glad that he didn't die like I thought he did... Without words, Hotaru-san suddenly threw away his kunai. His appearance changed dramatically, too. He looked exactly like the sitting man too now. Why was he duplicating him? That's just stupid.

"You" He pulled back his fist. "really" He pulled up his sleeve. "Annoy me!" He slammed it against my dad's cheek. He started stomping on him, like some gangster. "I can't believe you would do this! You with no talents and a shame to be my brother! Do you have no love for me? Did they just offer you a lot of money? Is that it?! I can't believe you! Disgrace! Shame to the family!" My dad...? was trying to block the hits. What the hell? "You wimp!" Hotaru-san gave him a final kick. "Come on, let's go. They're not worthy to be bothered with."

"Wait a minute!" My so-called Dad shouted. He stood up and tried to jump him. Hotaru-san merely held out his hand and prevented him from reaching him.

"Try that again, and I won't let you go." he said more seriously.

"It's not fair!"

"Well you were always the kind that gave up all the time."

"I did this because I felt needed for the first time!"

"Oh, do you want my sympathy?" So they're siblings then. Twins, even. Oh wow. "As if. Go and cry me a river." Their relationship seemed pretty stable. I guess. "But if I catch you doing this again, I'll kill you for real this time." Maybe a little unstable...

I held up my hand. "Whoa. Wait a second. Who are you two really? Do you guys know me? Tensake Kaneshi? Because both of you look like this guy that was a replacement as a father for me from years ago."

"No. Do you know her?"

"I only met her 4 days ago."

Getting along so well now.. I sweatdropped. Sighing, I rubbed my tummy again. Damn starvation. And what a small world this must be.

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We waved at those two idiotic brothers. After a lot of negotiation, they made up, their boss took them back in, and the town was rebuilding itself. There was a feeling that told me this was a waste of my time. I actually thought this would be something like my first mission as a real ninja without Kakashi sensei and my team. No satisfaction. None indeed.

"Sensei, we're going back to Konoha Village, right? Because it should be about time for the Third Exam now."

"Yeah, yeah." After a short silence, he told me, "Hotaru-kun says you were a nice kid and he had a good time with you. But lay off on the violence."

That confused me. Is this a hint? He chuckled. I stared at him weird. There's a conspiracy going on against me. I just know it.

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**Hello. I want to point out that the story of Hotaru is far more complicated than it seems, but since this is told from Kaneshi's view and she doesn't know it, you'll never know the story! Ahaha. But maybe if I'm generous enough, I'll slowly reveal it.**


	60. Third Chuunin Exam

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 60****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Why I don't own Naruto: It rejected me!**

**The Third Chuunin Exam Begins! Getting closer and closer to Sasuke's ditchorama.**

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We entered the village. The streets were empty.

"It must've already started." commented sensei.

I checked my watch. "Well, we're not too late. We're here, right on the dot to the time it officially starts."

Walking down the streets, I noticed that the silence here was somewhat scary. The footsteps of one running like a madman suddenly echoed across the street. Looking back, I saw Naruto being chased by a rampage of cattle. Frozen in the shock of it all, I finally melted and started running, dragging sensei with me. Naruto soon joined me.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" I shouted at him.

"YOU'RE CHOKING ME KANE-CHAN!!"

"I DID NOTHING! IT WAS KONOHAMARU'S IDEA! AND WHO'S HE!!?"

"YOU IDIOT!" We were at the doors of the dome, where the exam would be held. In rage about his stupidity, I kicked Naruto's butt in hard. "DON'T DISAPPOINT ME!" I shouted after him. He slid in, looking like the town moron. Ahaha. "GOOD LUCK, NARUTO!"

The seats were all filled in. Looks like we'll have to stand for hours. How tiring. As we reached the seating area, the first thing I noticed was that Kakashi sensei wasn't here and neither was Sasuke. Also the Sound ninja guy was absent.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to the Hidden Village of Konoha's Chuunin Selection Exam today. We will now begin the main matches with the eight that have passed the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches."

Scanning the audience, I saw Hinata-chan. She was sitting next to Kiba. If only I came earlier. Then I could've sat next to her, too. The genin moved off the battleground, excluding Hyuuga and Naruto. Naruto held out his fist suddenly. There was a breeze, carrying leaves. How will he defeat Hyuuga today? I grinned. He must have something up his sleeve. Hyuuga had his arms out, gentle fist style. He was edging closer. Naruto suddenly through kunai at him, which he deflected. He started punching him, but he kept blocking it and dodging. Hyuuga reached to finally give him a blow and hit him in the shoulder.

"Byakugan!" I whispered. I could see Naruto's tenketsu now. Nothing too bad happened to him. He used shadow replication. Five of them. Four of them attacked, but he dodged them, but the real Naruto actually kicked him. Wait, no. He dodged that too. The Narutos kept trying again and again, but Hyuuga kept dodging and hitting them so easily. It was extraordinary because he could even block attacks from behind. They stopped for a while, talking. "Sensei, sensei. What are they talking about?"

"...Do you want to hear Neji's story?"

"That's not what I asked for.." I said as I pinched his cheek.

"But it's interesting!!" he whined in pain.

"Fine, fine." I let go with a snap.

"Ok. Hyuuga Neji is in the Branch family of the Hyuuga clan." Naruto cloned himself to a bunch. They attacked him, but Neji did the same as usual and dodged blahblahblah. Suddenly he dashed through them and hit only one. The real Naruto? No... the real Naruto attacked him from behind. Neji created a spinning chakra barrier. Hakkeshou Kaiten? He knew that as well?! He used that same defense as Naruto tried to attack him again. He used Hakke Rokujuuyonshou next. Unbelievable. "This kid is extremely talented."

Hyuuga attacked Naruto in a fury. Sixty four fatal strikes. Naruto fell to the ground. Was the match over? He wouldn't give up here. Even if he was paralyzed fully, he would break it with determination. Ha. There he is. Standing back up.

"DATTA BOY, NARUTO!!!" I shouted. Sensei smiled.

"Naruto is talented as well."

Sitting back down, I noticed Hinata being carried up the stairs by an ANBU guy.

"Sensei, Hinata is hurt!" I pointed out. "I'll be right back!" I rushed to them. "Hey, hey! Kiba! What happened? What's wrong?"

"From that last match, you know?" he answered. The ANBU guy stooped to heal her. I felt very strong chakra vibrations from him. So strong, it was fearful. I stepped back. Murderous intent?

"Kane-chan! I wasn't done with my story! Come back!" Sensei called. I didn't want to leave Hinata with this... strange person. But she had Kiba...

"Alright, you loser!"

"So mean!"

I ran back. Naruto and Hyuuga were talking again.

"Kaneshi-chan. What they're talking about right now... It's crucial to our lessons. Hyuuga Neji ... is a branch family member. In other words, his Byakugan ability is limited."

"But he's so good!"

"That's what makes him extraordinary. But his hate for the head family... You see... the branch family only lives to protect and serve the head family. In order to prevent any treachery, the branch family is marked with a seal. This limits their Byakugan ability and the head family can destroy brain cells at their command. Neji's story... his father and Hinata's father were twins. From what I recall, his father was the younger one and resented his brother and Hinata. In general, the head family members. However, one day, Hinata was kidnapped by a Lightning ninja. He killed him and saved her from abduction. The Village of Lightning demanded the death of her father as pay back. We wanted to avoid war, so we agreed. But... instead of her father, Neji's father was killed."

!! "That's why he hates them so much! And the seal! So all of his fate and destiny crap is because he feels like a caged bird?"

"He believes that his fate cannot be changed and nor can anyone else's. He thinks his fate is to only live and die for the head family. His hatred towards this is let out through sniding comments about other fellow shinobi. Not that he talks slander. It's usually when he holds a grudge toward them. But the point is, because he doesn't believe he can change his own fate, he assumes that everyone else can't as well."

This reason of why Hyuuga is mean as he is. Was it acceptable? ... I suppose, but disappointing. If Naruto can't knock some sense into him in this match, then I swear I will.


	61. Sixty First Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 61****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Why I don't own Naruto: It rejected me!**

**I'm getting really really excited because Sasuke is about to leave. Not that I have anything against Sasuke, it's just my favorite arc in Naruto.**

**A very short chapter.**

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Hyuuga is such an idiot. Whining that he's trapped in a cage. He probably created that cage himself. Struggling so hard to break out of it, when it's for no use because that cage is only a mirage. You've gone so far, but think that you can go no further because you drew the line yourself. What a joke. Naruto, on the other hand, escaped carefree. Two people who contradict each other to an extreme point... a very interesting match.

"I'm betting everything on Naruto, who clearly found his wings." I said.

"Eh?"

Hyuuga suddenly punched Naruto in a vital area, full force. He fell back and laid still. While Neji was walking away, he stood back up. Amazing. But once one has found their freedom, they're not going to let someone degrade it. Maybe, this was more about vengeance for his father... who knows? Still... he's just like Sasuke. Acting like he's the only one who's faced pain in life. There's no way I'll ever be friends with him anymore. And isn't he contradicting himself? If his fate is to protect the head family, he pretty much violated that fate and practically murdered her. So why keep saying it's destiny and shit when he went against himself? AAAAAAARGAAAAAGHARHGAHH! I clutched my hair frantically. So much thinking!

"Kane-chan...!"

Someone new came. I lifted my head. Someone very powerful. Powerful to the extent of having the ability to even destroy Konoha. Looking around, I couldn't see anything or anyone suspicious. Then I realized... this is Naruto..! Since when...? I remember only once... the bridge. He's bursting in flames almost, just like before. With incredible speed, he attacked with kunai. This failed, but Neji also failed hitting him. They both threw kunai at each other. They were on the same level now. No loser or genius. Naruto was running so hard that the ground was breaking underneath him. They met, and a huge explosion occurred. My eyes were popping out in excitement. When the smoke cleared, there was two craters. Almost like graves. A depressing scene. An arm popped out of the ground. Neji crawled out. Then where was Naruto? He couldn't have... could he? Neji walked over to Naruto's grave for inspection. That sounds weird. So suddenly, Naruto jumped out of the ground, slugging Neji. His clone in the'grave' poofed away. Wow... in his last minute, he could still use shadow replication and dig his way into the dirt. Hyuuga wasn't making a comeback or rebound.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

"YESSSSSSSSS!! THANK THE LORD! THE HEAVENS! THE BIG MAN!" I shouted. I lifted a finger, pressed it against my lips and raised it to the sky. Sometimes to be stubborn, naive, and always thinking mainly on how to react to the present... it has its rewards. Afterall, it is the loudest-hyperactive-obnoxious-brainless-genin of Konoha that won.


	62. Sixty Second Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 62****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Another short chapter.**

**It's been 62 chapters. Is there really a need for disclaimers now?**

**For safety precautions I'll go with it anyways. **

**Naruto, my love, is not my own anymore.**

**Also, there's been 9 chapters and still no reviews? I'm disappointed and depresseeeeeeeedddddd and miseryyyyy oh woe is mee. **

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Everyone was applauding for dear-old Naruto. Ahaha, his victory run was funny. Blowing kisses and such. So energetic, it's almost frightening. I think this is the day that I've been waiting for. The day that he's been waiting for. When the villagers of Konoha will acknowledge him for who he is and understand that he's not some scrawny midget that plays tricks. Actually he is a scrawny midget that plays tricks, but there's more to him than just that. Hehe. Consider this as one of the happiest days of my life.

"Kaneshi, something's about to happen." I looked up. Sensei's face was filled with anxiety. This worried me.

"What? Do you know something?"

"I'm not sure, but I can sense it." He pointed towards the place where the Hokage and the sand dude was sitting. "See him? It seems that these bad feelings are coming from there."

"Mmhmm." I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. Well, he's serious right now and when he's serious, he's right. I squinted my eyes to see the Kazekage.

"It's best if Sasuke's match is cancelled."

"WHAT? Are you kidding me? Sasuke's match is something I want to watch!"

"You don't understand. My suspicions are that Sasuke is important to what's about to happen next."

"Well, no shit. This is the Final Chuunin Exams."

"**Kaneshi**." I shrunk at his tone. Who knew that he could suddenly get so scary. He shuddered and then let out a deep breath. "Kaneshi. Just be aware of what's going on around you at all times. When the circumstance calls for it, dispel any genjutsu techniques and prepare yourself. If you refuse to believe me then I'll have to simply knock you out. When you realize what's going on, first thing you do is protect the Hokage. I have faith that you'll be able to handle anything that comes your way. And if I'm not here and you go into panic mode, just look for Kakashi sensei and ask him for directions. I'm hoping and that you can endure what's about to happen and go directly to the Hokage instead. But promise that you won't back out of this."

Everything was going in one ear and out the other. I don't understand. I don't understand AT ALL. What's going on? Why is he talking about this as if it was some life or death situation? Will it be like that? My brain was screaming 'What the hell are you saying? Explain yourself!' but my body moved on its own will. Nodding my head, my voice that was not my voice said, "Sure. I understand."

People around us started booing. That's right... It was Sasuke's match next! They were making a ruckus saying that they didn't have all day. If they cancelled his match, what would happen? Better put, what WOULDN'T happen? The noise was dying down. His match was delayed.

"I knew it..." I heard sensei mutter under his breath. I am so lost. Kankurou gave in and Shino won by default. Everything was confusing now. Small things were startling me. As if a timebomb was set and I had no idea when it would go off. Suspicious looking people... There was that ANBU but it's ANBU. They always look kind of suspicious to me.

A gust of wind blew my hair. Temari floated down, on her ginormous fan. Shikamaru followed, after Naruto kicked him off the post. I giggled at the sight of it. But this worrisome feeling wouldn't leave.


	63. Sixty Third Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 63****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Cruel and heartless readers. That is all I shall say. Coughimtalkingaboutreviewscough. **

**Big news. I submitted a short story into a competition and it won. Gasp gasp cheer. I forget what the story was, but it was about something very moral and whatnot. Since I love writing about morals. Ahaha. **

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Yeah, it's been a long time since I updated so please forgive me. And since I'm on spring break right now, I shall not quit writing until I finish the first half of Naruto! (That means until the end of the Retrieve/Rescuewhichever it is Sasuke Arc) Or is it until the beginning of the fillers. Hmmmm. Yes yes. Right.**

**If I don't see a review in 5 chapters, this story is soooooooo done. Cancelled. Nien. Zero. **

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People were throwing rotten fruits and vegetables along with trash. Where do they get these things? Well, there were foodstands and souvenir things and what around here, but still!

Temari rushed to attack Shikamaru with her mammoth of a fan. When the clouds of dust and sand cleared, it showed that Shikamaru dodged it in time. He stood on two kunais, attached to the wall. She waved her behemoth fan again. Shikamaru moved out of sight. There was a short period of time until he finally came out from behind a bush. Temari, once again, swung her fan, creating a huge breezy wind. It swirled everything around and made it even to the stands of the audience. I raised my arms in defense form, so I wouldn't breathe in trash or something. A thin shadow suddenly reached out from amidst the sand. Temari jumped back in time and continued to do so. Finally, at a point, the shadow stopped and shrunk back. She marked that point by drawing a line.

Shikamaru stared up at the sky. Obviously, he was thinking _'The clouds look so nice' _Spending enough time with him, makes him easy to read. His hands formed the sign that signals he's thinking. I've seen it the times when I get lucky playing shougi with him. He always wins, but I consider that I won when he makes that sign. Because that means I, at least, got him stuck and made him think. He put his hands down and reached to his back pocket. What game plan did he come up with?

She waved her monster fan again. He had taken out a single kunai, which flew out of the dust clouds. She dodged it and then a shadow line appeared, chasing her back. The shadow reached farther than the last time. But not far enough. Yet, he wasn't pulling back his shadow. Is this part of the strategy? Suddenly, another shadow appeared right at the edge of his shadow. It was a parachute, made from his jacket, I think. Considering the fact that he wasn't wearing his jacket now. This increased his shadow power and chased Temari again. She jumped around until the shadow reached its end point and receded back. If this was his strategy, what was he going to do next? He didn't have anything else to create an extra power boost shadow. Unless... Taking note of the settings, in the last match, Naruto had dug a tunnel, which is evidently still there. And with a tunnel comes shadows. I furrowed my eyebrows. It would be hard to get Temari into the tunnel, since she's plenty bigger than he is. But wait. He could enter the tunnel with his shadow and then control her, but that would only work if she was standing near one of the holes Naruto made. And even so, she would have to be unable to catch the shadow and dodge again, which means that she would have to be right in front of it. And since Shikamaru is so darn smart, she was! Genius! Brilliant! God, I would definitely like to be on the same team as him if he only wasn't so lazy. Whatever move she was planning to make, she couldn't now. I could see the shadow connected to hers.

They both walked to each other. Shikamaru raised his hand. As did Temari. He said something.

The crowd was in an uproar. But what did he say? I couldn't hear anything. Urg. Damn these ears of mine. I tugged at sensei's sleeve. "Sensei, sensei. What just happened?"

"He gave in." he chuckled.

I was shocked at first, but I started laughing too. That's just like Shikamaru. He's either out of chakra and doesn't feel like struggling to make moves without it or he's indeed way too lazy and doesn't want to try since he came this far. Naruto leaped out, probably to lecture Shikamaru about giving up. Ahaha.

Sensei stiffened. He was alert to the extreme now. That's right... The Uchiha vs. Gaara match was next. I'm still wondering what is it that he's fearing? Still,I became more alert as well. Please don't come, Sasuke. Don't.

They were waiting for him. If he comes, he might be saved from the villagers, but he'll be dying from the wrath of me. Suddenly a breeze started blowing. This wasn't the works of Temari. There was a swirl of leaves and wind, and then them. Damn Kakashi sensei. If he was looking for a dramatic entrance, it was dramatic alright. I swiped out my handy dandy scissors and had the urge to jump down. Sensei grabbed me before I could. (Just my emotional sentiments about how ugly Sasuke's hair made him)

"Whoa, what are you doing with those?"

"I. HAVE. TO. CUT. SASUKE'S. HAIR!" Seriously! One month of training and he has a lion's mane. Argh! Pet peeve or not, he's commiting suicide, by simply appearing like that.

"Hey, hey, hey. Wait a minute. I have long hair too. Nothing wrong with that."

"BUT. YOU. ACTUALLY. LOOK. NICE. LIKE. THAT." I said through clenched teeth. Sensei suddenly jumped up and waved his arms.

"Kakashi sensei! Kane-chan just said that I look beautiful and pure with my long, silvery hair and wishes to marry me for it!"

I clamped his mouth shut and pinched him hard. By God, I'll kill him before I lop off Sasuke's hair. But now what? What could the Kazekage be planning? What position will Sasuke be playing? I trust him enough to not be on the bad side and being used, unaware that he is. For now, the only I can do is wait. Wait and see.


	64. Sixty Fourth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 64****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Since I don't have much to say, I shall enlighten you all with a motto of mine. **

**Those that need kindness the most are the ones that spread it.**

**I disown Naruto.**

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"Someone left this world, Kaneshi." sensei whispered. Gaara stepped out from the doorway. I cringed in fear.

"How do you know?" I whispered back.

"I sense less chakra. Chakra that disappeared. Most likely killed by Gaara. It's astonishing that he could kill in such a short amount of time. But then again, killing can be done in a second... It's a pity, isn't it?" he grinned weakly. It seemed more like an agonizing grin of pain and sorrow. I started to wonder, why is it that he's still a genin?

Sasuke and Gaara approached each other. My fingers twitched in longing for the scissors, which was now in possession of sensei. Damn him.

Sand immediately began pouring out, and Sasuke jumped back. Then the sand just plopped down. Gaara seemed to be fighting with something internally. His struggling stopped. What was that? Pain suddenly shot into my head.

Groaning, I clutched my head. My chest heaved up and down. Why was I feeling so inferior to someone? The only time I ever felt somewhat like this was on that bridge. But I was almost dead that time... And that was the day when I officially started feeling that Naruto had something. Something stronger than everyone else.

Sensei leaned over and patted my back. "Kaneshi, is something wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

"It's nothing. Just difficulty breathing." I gasped out. I managed to regain control and stability of myself and resumed watching Sasuke's match. He was moving so fast. The technique he was using was familiar. Very familiar. Almost like deja vu. Just like Rock Lee. But how did he get so fast? It must've taken years for Lee to reach that speed, but it only took him a month? That's so... so.. insensitive! Damn Sasuke and his genius eyes. And why was he copying Lee? By God, stop copying everything Lee does! It's annoying!

Still... Sharingan is used to copy other people's techniques. So it makes sense. But it's still annoying.

Gaara began to create this sand barrier circle around him. Before it completely enclosed him, Sasuke tried to punch him. However, the sand changed into spikes right when Sasuke hit it. Slowly, an eye was formed by sand outside the barrier. Sasuke ran to attack again, and those spikes met him. They ever so slightly missed him and he jumped back. They stretched to him. Flipping around to dodge them, he jumped up and stepped momentarily on the top of the sand barrier, before it morphed into spikes.

Sensei stood up suddenly. "Kaneshi, I have to leave for urgent business. Shortly after I'm gone, immediately report to Kakashi sensei that a wildfire will soon spread into the forest. I trust you not to panic when the time comes."

I nodded. What I've been fearing is about to begin. Sensei disappeared. I didn't have time to be watching Sasuke's Rock Lee wannabe moves. I counted to 10 and went into motion. Kakashi sensei probably joined Sakura or whoever else he knows. Scanning the crowd, I spotted grey spikes and pink hair. I ran down the stairs, shouting, "Kakashi sensei! Kakashi sensei!"

"Yo, Kaneshi." he greeted me.

"Rangekun sensei told me to tell you that a wildfire will soon spread into the forest." I blurted out. Kakashi sensei's eyes widened.

"Ne? Who's this Rangekun sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Hold up! I want for Sasuke's match to be stopped!" Naruto threw a tantrum.

"Is that Rangekun sensei the guy you were with that time when you came to my store?" Ino asked.

I ignored them. "Kakashi sensei! I know something's about to happen! But I don't know what! Tell me!!"

"I'm honestly not sure what's going to happen, but I do know that we'll have to wait."

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura interrupted.

"Nothing, nothing." Kakashi sensei smiled. I turned my head in time to see Sasuke piercing Gaara's absolute defense sand barrier with... electricity? No... it's his chakra! I was oblivious to everything that everyone was saying around me. Completely taken aback by this, thoughts of all those times that Rock Lee couldn't get through and when I couldn't get through that hateful sand ran through my mind. So there are two types of people in this world. Those that fail, and those that succeed. How I wish I could be the latter... Jealousy bubbled up. But I suppressed it so it wouldn't pop. I sighed.

Sasuke was having a touch time getting his arm out of the shield. Electricity or whatever was let loose and he finally got his arm out, but along with it came this huge other arm. I gasped. "What is that thing?" I murmured. The arm disappeared back in. That feeling of inferiority pulsated through me once again. I winced as the sand cracked. What was going on in there? The sand 'melted' off, revealing Gaara, unchanged. What was that arm though? My eyes began feeling drowsy.

What? Shit! I suck at dispelling these things. But I have to stay awake! My hand jolted and grabbed Kakashi sensei's sleeve. The drowsiness was instantly repelled. This illusionary technique... was coming from that ANBU... Why? A sudden burst of smoke caught my attention. It was at the Kage station. Panic rised in me. Eyes widened to the extreme, I looked around wildly. My gaze went to Kakashi sensei, and I remembered what sensei told me. _I trust you not to panic when the time comes. _Well I sure as hell am not going to disappoint him.


	65. Sixty Fifth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 65****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Oh Goodness Gracious Gosh! How exciting!**

**I've abandoned Naruto under the bridge.**

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I stared at the smoke. Hokage-sama was in danger! Out of the smoke, jumped out the Kazekage with Hokage-sama. He had a kunai pointed to Hokage-sama's neck. I looked up to Kakashi sensei, asking for permission to move. He nodded. I halted when an ANBU member burst into flames, touching this forcefield that was put up around them. Do you know how hard it is to keep fear on the downlow? I gulped and tried to gather the will to keep moving. But before I could even get out of the stands, there were 4 sound ninjas plus that ANBU member that did the illusionary technique in the way. I urged myself to move instead of hiding behind Kakashi sensei. Jumping up, I let go 5 shots of chakra. I doubt that at least one of them hit the enemy, but if it helps.

There was another shot of smoke exploding, outside the village this time. Inside, I was fighting myself. I wanted to run away again, but I can't do that! It's not my life at stake, it's the whole village's. If I'm not willing to risk it then I'm not a ninja. I reached the roof below where Hokage-sama and the shield was. I don't know what to do! Taking out a kunai, I flung it at the forcefield. It was repelled and burst into flames. I blasted chakra at it. The field shook, but no damage was done. I saw three snakes entering the village, destroying everything in the way. Followed by them, were dots of ninjas entering too. I wanted to shout. I need something to vent out my frustration on!

I have faith in Hokage-sama to be able to fend for himself. Leaving him, I went to join the other shinobi to protect our village. My first objective will be to get rid of those snakes. Nearing them, I threw shuriken at one. It bounced off, leaving no mark. However, it caught the snake's attention to me. Damn it.

I sliced the air with my hand, sending sharp edged chakra towards the snake. It left little cuts, but they were more like annoying, irritating rashes rather than damage. I stared at my arm, wondering how much chakra would be safe to chop up the snake but not leave damage to the village itself. All of a sudden, the snake lunged at me with its mouth open. I was too late to react and found myself in its mouth and going down further, being swallowed up by mucus and disgusting icky, oh my god I have to shower when this is done. Stupid snake. Their strong point is their practically indestructible scaly skin, but their weakest point would be their insides. Clasping my hands together, I let out a huge blast of chakra. I felt the innards explode into the open. I let out a deep breath and thanked the heavens for the clean air. I need a bath. I need a bath. Damn snakes. This is just like the Second Chuunin Exam.

I froze. Snakes? Connection to the Second Chuunin Exam? ...Orochimaru?!! This explains everything! Is this another cunning plan to take Sasuke away? So was it him that's fighting Hokage-sama at the moment? ARRGGHH!

"Did that genin just do that?"

"Who is she? What's she doing here?"

Annoying bastards that I joined to protect our village. "SHADDUP!!" I screeched in annoyance. One down, two more to go.

I jumped into the air. Second weakest point of snakes, their eyes. I aimed two shuriken at those. The snake shrieked in pain. Third weakest point of snakes, their mouth. Adding speed, I planted a note to a kunai and flung it into its mouth and backed away. 3, 2, 1. I covered myself with my arms as the second snake's head exploded. One more left. Impatience took over me. I re-enacted what I did in the preliminary exams, and created a sword through chakra. Except this one was three times as big and way more sharper. I focused whatever chakra was left in me to my legs, giving me an extra speed and power boost. I jumped through the air at almost the speed of Rock Lee without his weights, and thrusted the sword down the snake's throat. It spit out blood which hit me. Ugh. So disgusting. As the snake's dying yell diminished and finally died, I plopped down onto the ground and sighed in relief. I'm glad this isn't the daily life of the average shinobi. Soon I blacked out from exhaustion.


	66. Sixty Sixth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 66****  
By: HeavenlydemonxXxo**

**Hail NotForYourAge. :)**

**Oh thank you for your wonderful gracious reviews. I shall create a statue to commemorate this event. I don't even know what commemorate means but let's hope I used it right. Ahaha.**

**It's so breezy breezy cold outside. Very unlike spring.**

**I'll own Naruto... someday.**

**

* * *

**

I woke up to the vibrations of hate. Desire to kill and avenge with such great hate for motivation. But in the middle of that was loneliness. I rose up, shaking my head to clear my mind.

"You're up! Kane-chan!" Rangekun sensei greeted me. Beside him stood this old looking guy. "Jiraiya-sama, she's up." This 'Jiraiya-sama' stooped to my eye-level. Then his eyes went glazed and hands started reaching out. What was he doing? Does he want a handshake?

"Sensei, he's annoying me." I muttered. Irritated, I punched the old geezer away. "Sensei, I'm leaving."

"You're not ready to fight again!" he protested.

"Geez, sensei. Team 7 can't handle whatever dangers they're facing, without me. And I'm not willing to stand down just because I'm at a loss for chakra." I replied. That seemed to win him over.

Right before I left, I heard him weep, "She's already grown up!" I almost lost my footing after hearing that. Really! That darn sensei. I couldn't help but grin foolishly. Maybe I did mature.

I entered the woods. Powerful chakra tremors could be sensed here. I hope they didn't lose themselves in battle. Jumping through the trees at full speed, I spotted Shikamaru with Asuma-san. Further on, I came across Shino. Nodding, I passed him. Suddenly, I felt the ground shake. My heart was racing; what was going on over there?

Finally, I saw Sasuke, lying face down. That is somewhat unlike him. "Sasuke!" I called. He didn't respond. When I reached him, I stepped back in horror. The mark... it spread! Where was Naruto and Sakura? Sharp sand things came upon me and cut me. I jumped in surprise. There was Naruto and ... Gaara...!! Was this the thing that gave off such powerful chakra? Gaara shot another round of sand shuriken. I jumped in front of Naruto and was cut again.

"What is this pitiful girl doing?" Gaara asked. "Does she think that she can protect her friend? How sad."

That enraged me. "Oh, I'm so sorry that you can't provide a friend for yourself at the present." I mocked. Loneliness mixed with fury vibrated through the forest again. Suddenly Naruto pushed me away.

"Kaneshi, he's my opponent. I want to fight him." Automatically, I backed off. No questions asked and no answers wanted. Off to the side, was Sakura. She was in a chokehold by Gaara's disposable hand, unconscious. I brought out my kunai and started sawing on the fingers. I might as well save Sakura with my free time. But instead of loosening, the grip tightened on her. Dropping the kunai, I stepped back. So this is the risk that Naruto's taking. Then I realized how close I was to Gaara. In a flash, I jumped back to Sasuke. This lack of chakra was bothering me. Damned snakes. Naruto made his move. Watching, I wondered what he had been training on. After a series of movements that looked very sophisticated and professional, he ended up behind Gaara.

"1000 years of pain!!" he shouted. With clenched fists, I turned away in irritation and holding in laughter. He was slapped away. Hope for Naruto to grow up minimized by one-third. A loud boom shook the ground. I crashed down onto my butt from the shaking. Sasuke just disappeared and reappeared, covering for Naruto before he crashed into the tree. That bomb that he must've planted left a bit of damage to Gaara. But more like a scratch. Soon, another powerful outburst of chakra came. Following that, there was a mass of Naruto replications everywhere. Sighing in relief, I relaxed down. He's totally got this thing down. Hope for Naruto to grow up has now doubled its original size. There was a giant thud on the ground.

Sand shot up, hitting all the Narutos. Then a huge figure loomed up ahead. Ok, I sit corrected. Naruto's going to need help. All of a sudden, I tumbled back as another huge figure appeared. I sit corrected again. He's got it down. But what were these things? ... A huge frog that smokes and some kind of beige raccoon? A huge frog knows how to swordfight? I began feeling dizzy from all the surprises. In a few matter of seconds, an arm was chopped off and the sword landed, sending Temari-style wind to me. Damn it!

What do I do?! I feel like I came here for no reason now! Then there was this huge bucket of water dumped on me and everyone else in a 5 mile radius. Soaking. Wet. Damn. On the positive side, it definitely cleaned off some blood and whatever slime was in the snake. On the negative side, three more storms of rain pounded on to me. Ah, then the fourth one. This wasn't what I was planning for.


	67. Sixty Seventh Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 67****  
By: CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama**

**It's been a long long long time eh?**

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* * *

**

A red fox jumped through the air out of nowhere. I watched in amazement. This wasn't a battle that you could see at anytime. The fox grabbed hold of the freaky raccoon and poofed back into a frog. Naruto popped out and slugged the sleeping Gaara that was sticking out of his monster.

"DAMN IT! I FINALLY CAME OUT YOU KNOW!" the raccoon shouted. However, he was still struggling with Mr. Frog. Finally, Naruto headbutted Gaara and Shukaku disappeared. They both began to fall, exhausted. Jumping through the air, I caught Naruto and on a last minute whim, I caught Gaara as well. Apparently, they were still conscious. I set them on the ground with distance between them for safety cautions. But that didn't help. Naruto immediately began to drag his way over to Gaara by use of chin.

I grabbed his ankles to stop him. If he keeps on fighting then today will surely be his last day.

"DON'T COME HERE!" Gaara shouted. That startled me.

"The pain of being totally alone isn't something of this world, is it?" Naruto said. He stopped struggling against me. Something burst inside of me. My breath became more ragged. The pain of being totally alone... It was as if the cloudy sky cleared up for me. "I can understand your feelings... Somehow... It's like my pain. But I've got precious people now." I'm always fooling myself. These emotions inside me... The pain I've felt... Most people can't see that because my actions were usually not how I truly felt. Why did I want to be friends with Naruto? Why did Naruto want to be friends with Sasuke? Because we thought we shared the same pain: Loneliness. I sympathized with him. I thought of him as my brother. As friends... I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings... experiences... with him. Watching him from afar... I felt peace of mind. "I wont let you hurt my precious people!" But what was I really seeing in him? Was I pitying him? For being stuck in a worse situation? I was never insulted or teased.

"Why? Why do you do this?"

"Because they saved me from the pain of being alone..." Biting my lip, I pushed myself back. That was what I saw in him. He was my hope. Being lonely, it attracts you to others that shared the same experience. He was what made me feel not so alone. "They acknowledged my existence. They are my precious ones."

To be talked about in this manner... I felt a joy that made me feel infinite.

"That's enough, Naruto. Sakura is safe now." I realized that Sasuke was there. "He probably used up all of his chakra. The sand holding Sakura is gone."

But what about Gaara? Who are his precious ones? I have mine... My team. My sensei. My village. But what about his?

Kankurou and Temari showed up with threatening expressions.

"That's enough." said Gaara. I found myself crawling to him. Getting up, I offered him my hand. He may have never had someone to acknowledge him. He may have never experienced what having a loved person is like. But everything has a beginning, and this was a start. Hesitantly, he took it. His hand was warm.. not cold. Why is that important? ... Because it shows that he is also human and has the capabilities of showing human emotions.

Supporting him up, I passed him to Kankurou. They disappeared. I glanced at Naruto and saw his smile. I smiled too.

* * *

As soon as we came to the village, we were met with the news of the Hokage's death. That shook me. I reached for my clothes and put them on. Black, to show our sadness. To show our grieving. To show our honor and respect of his place with us while alive. And to show our care for everyone else that died for us in this time of battle.

I stood among the ranks. Rain began pouring. Raising my hands, I felt the rain splash onto me and trickle down. Closing my eyes, memories flashed through my mind of the Hokage. He was the first one to meet me when I came running to this village. He was the first one to smile upon me. He was the first one to have me laugh.

Thank you, I thought, as I laid the white rose onto the altar.

I also heard that he died smiling. The rain came to a cease. What was he smiling about, I wonder.

* * *

"Naruto! Come on!" I called as we waited for him. He came running, with a big wide grin on his face. I looked from Kakashi sensei to Sakura to Sasuke. They were all smiling. I gently smiled. A leaf blew to my direction. Catching it, I held it tight.

Even after this attack, us Konoha villagers, will be able to push through it. I loosened my grip and blew the leaf away. I watched as it flew higher and drifted away.

"Kaneshi! You're being slow now!" Naruto teased.

I ran to catch up with them. Arms around them, I laughed. I laughed a laugh that concluded my past life's turmoil with happiness.


	68. Sixty Eighth Chapter

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 68****  
By: CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama**

**I was starting to lose motivation and inspiration for this, but then I received reviews that definitely helped me a lot. **

**Thank you :) I owe you much.**

**Sadly, I am somewhat losing interest in writing this story : O. The horror!**

**Agh. My foot is numb.**

* * *

I sprawled out on the roof. Who knew that repairing roofs would be so difficult? And what's even worse is that I was the one who destroyed these houses. Snakes be damned. I went back to work and hammered in the last few tiles. It seems like it's been forever since the Hokage died... but it only occurred around a day ago. I gazed at the glorious faces of the past Hokages. It made me laugh that Naruto graffitied them a lot. But, he never does it now. We've all matured a lot. Is it age or experience? I'm leaning more to the experience side. 

"Heeeyy! Kane-chan!"

And there's my number one example of why. "Hey, sensei." I replied.

"It's strange how I hardly ever come here to the town, but when I do come for once, everything goes into havoc."

"One look at you and there's not much need for explanation." I snickered as I looked at his shocked face. Well, I guess eyes, because he still wore that mask. Curiosity grew on what face could be behind it. But curiosity also killed the cat. That had me thinking if he had traps behind the mask and they'll get triggered if I ever try taking it off. Could we call this wishful thinking? Is it even wishful? I began pondering on that.

"Well. From teacher to student, you disrespected me and I can punish you for that."

"Wrong. You were only my sensei during the break time between the Second and Third Chuunin Exams. Idiot."

"No. Kakashi sensei entrusts you to me until whenever he wants."

My eyes narrowed. Dear Kakashi Sensei, you just made it onto my hit list.

"But this is actually great training grounds."

"No, it's not." I scoffed.

"Stupid girl. If you paid attention in the lessons I gave you, then you should know by now what kind of skills you have. As a ninja, you'd be great as a medic. But in a more general sense, you are good at fixing broken things. Or sick things."

I never thought of what I could do that way. I only thought about creating weapons of mass destruction with my chakra... Which doesn't sound as moral as it really is.

"But know this. You can not create life. You can not bring back the dead. Those are forbidden jutsus."

"If I brought the dead back to life, they'd probably hate their decaying bodies. And if they left it, I wonder what it would look like... Floating souls..." I imagined white orbs floating around and greeting each other. Wouldn't be entirely unpleasant.

"Ok. Kane. I'm just saying you should practice on how to distribute your chakra to fix things like this. It's simple really."

I nodded impatiently. But I guess he was right. It's better than hammering in things for hours. Letting go of the hammer, I raised my hand until it was parallel with the roof and focused on the fixing. It wasn't hard, but it was extremely tedious. Sensei jumped up.

"Keep working on it." And he jumped to somewhere else at the speed of light. At the same time, goosebumps covered my skin. I could sense danger near the outskirts of the village. Right after our village is on the verge of destruction, there's more danger? Standing up, I followed him. It was hard to keep up with him seeing as how he had a headstart and even faster than Lee. Soon, I could see where his destination was. The river, where there were other figures. Sensei already disappeared and wasn't there with them. Slowing down, I made out the words that Kakashi sensei just said.

"Is what you are after... The Nine Tails that is sealed inside Naruto's body?"

The legendary Nine Tails that caused great damage here before I was born?

"I know.. that you two aren't the only ones. Your organization is called Akatsuki, right?

"Kisame... Take Kakashi with us. The others... Let them disappear from this world!" said the stranger.

Landing in the water, I pushed this Kisame back with chakra. Along with me, Gai-san had kicked him.

"Who are you?" Kisame asked.

"Leaf's Proud Beast! Maito Gai!"

"And the temperamental rookie that used to freak out in these type of situations, Tensake Kaneshi."

The man beside Kisame looked familiar... Those Sharingan eyes.. He... resembled Sasuke! Staring at him straight in the eyes, for the first time ever, I activated my own Sharingan. But then Kakashi slumped down behind me. Turning around, I began to slap him silly in panic. Did they kill him? I pushed my ear to his chest. I could still hear a heartbeat. Gai-san took him from me and handed him to this other lady. Blocking out everything except for the fact that Kakashi-sensei was knocked out by this Uchiha man, I felt anger. But they disappeared and unaware, I followed them to Kakashi sensei's room.

Sitting on the bed, I stared at the surrounding jounin people. Gai san, Asuma san, and Kurenai san. And the whereabouts of Rangekun sensei was unknown to me. I suppose I guessed his destination wrong. They were staring at me, as well, with worried looks. I didn't understand.

"Kaneshi, could you please leave this room." Gai san asked me politely. I didn't argue, but reluctantly, I opened the door and stepped outside. They began talking then, but it was muffled. I heard footsteps approaching this hall. Looking to the right, there was Sasuke. We acknowledged each other and he went in.

I heard him say, "Kakashi.." then stop. Another sound of running footsteps coming here approached.

"Is the story that Itachi has returned really true? And also that he's chasing Naruto?"

Hearing this again confirmed what I thought I heard at the river. I can infer that this Itachi is related to Sasuke and an outlawed shinobi. Naruto's in danger. A breeze graced me as Sasuke ran out. His expression was one of anger.

Sighing, I left. Before I do anything rash, I think it would be best to learn more from sensei.


	69. Sasuke Leaves

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 69****  
By: CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama**

**I've stopped doing disclaimers! Now I know that I'll be hearing police sirens SOON ENOUGH!!!**

**I've finally found the manga and I can pick up where I left off in the last chapter : )**

**So go away fillers and my 200 chapter dream is gone. But I might separate my story into two different ones. Like the anime. Like before the time break and after. **

**But here's a story about my day. I was frolicking around in the mall with some friends and I entered Claires. Now I have a passion for Claires because this certain fellow that I do quite like has a liking for it as well. Which is quite weird. And now I have questions about his sexuality, but little kids ignore that. But I bought these awesome fingerless gloves or whatever they're called. And some leg warmers and arm warmers. I love warmers. **

**But does anyone recommend any good stories on this website? I'd like to read one.**

* * *

Walking down the streets, I noticed that Naruto and Sasuke disappeared, for some time too. Unusual, but not surprising. And Sensei wasn't anywhere here either. It's kind of lonely here without them, what with Sakura doing who knows what and Kakashi knocked out cold, dreaming no one wants to know. Where could Hinata be? And the rest of the rookie crowd. 

With nothing to do, might as well visit Rock Lee. It's been a while since doing that. I entered the hospital, sadly with no flowers this time, and checked in with the clerk. Heading to his room, I saw Naruto along with this beautiful woman. Could she be... ? I've been hearing talk about a new Hokage. But her being a woman was kind surprising. Yet inspiring.

"HEY! KANESHI-CHAN!!" Naruto waved to me.

"Naruto!! You lousy butt, where have you been?"

"Guess what?! This is Tsunade, the 5th Hokage." He also added, muttering, "She's actually 50 years old. An old granny really."

"Oh? That's great." I replied, smiling. I wasn't as excited as I thought I should be.

"Well, we're on our way to heal Sasuke! See you later!"

I waved goodbye to him and continued to Lee's room. That's right... She should be able to heal Lee. I opened the door and looked inside. He was in there, along with Gai san.

"Hello, Lee san, Gai san. I heard that the 5th Hokage can heal you, Lee. You'll be up and at it pretty soon, right?"

"Yes! And I can regain the training that I've lost!" Lee shouted excitedly.

I laughed with them but I had a doubtful feeling in the back of my mind. I think Lee has been struggling to recover for a long time. At this rate, it may be difficult to be healed.

Afterwards, I realized that Kakashi sensei must be healed now too. And wait... SASUKE'S BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME, INJURED? I banged my head on the wall. I can't believe that I didn't know that.

I didn't tell the clerk that I would be visiting Sasuke too, but oh well. She wouldn't mind too much. I followed the direction which Naruto took with Tsunade-sama and looked in the windows. I caught a glimpse of pink hair AKA Sakura and probably Sasuke's room. Turning the knob, I felt weird. For reasons that I cannot fathom. Poking my head in, I greeted Sakura and Sasuke.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-chan."

"Oh, hey, Kane-chan."

I looked away and cursed Sensei's influential ways. Turning to them, again, I saw that Sakura was peeling an apple. I took a chair and sat down next to her. When she was done, she handed the plate to Sasuke.

"Sasuke kun! Want some apples?" she asked. He gave her an evil glare and slapped it away, into my face. Out of anger, I stood up and slapped him.

"Sasuke, you bastard!" I shouted.

"Kaneshi, please don't do anything." Sakura pleaded, holding me back. We were silent and Sasuke merely ignored us and looked out the window. I heard the door open behind us. Noticing this, Sasuke turned and he turned into this hateful aura sensation. I wanted to slug him.

"Wha... What?" I could tell from the voice that this was Naruto. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Hey, Naruto..."

"Wha... What?"

"Fight me. Now."

"What are you babbling about? You're still recovering." He protested

"Shut up. Fight me **now**." I clenched my fists tight. "You thought you helped me? That Fifth Hokage or whatever... Butting into other people's business."

"What?" They stood, facing each other.

"Sasuke kun! What's wrong with you? Naruto kun. Stop him now!" Sakura freaked.

"Well then... I was thinking about it too." Naruto responded, menacingly. They walked out, to commence their challenge to each other.

Frustration was building up inside me. I wanted to vent it out. My hands were getting sweatier as I clenched them even tighter. Sakura followed after them. What happened to Sasuke kun? Since when did he become like this? What is his problem? When I get my hands on him, I'll strangle his little neck. I had to let it out. Unaware that I've been focusing chakra into my arm, I swung my fist into the hospital room wall. It astonished me when it all fell to pieces instead of just a little crack. But whatever. For now, I should report to Kakashi sensei about this. He's the most fit to stop it.

* * *

Before he rushed to their aid, Kakashi sensei told to me to go home and rest. I did as he asked, because I was exhausted for no reason. But I lost my key again on the streets. I shaked my head in shame. But it is a beautiful night sky. Could we say intuition? Because I chose to sleep in a tree near the outskirts. What woke me up was indeed very surprising. 

"Why won't you talk to me?" It sounded like Sakura. "Why do you always keep so quiet? You never say a single word to me... ?" I shifted my body alittle. My ears pricked up because I couldn't hear anything after that. "I.. .I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!!" I was kind of exasperated. Was this a confession? "DON'T LEAVE! IF YOU DO, I'LL SCREAM!!"

Leave? Leave as in going home and leaving her there? Or leave as in he's running away from the village? Moving so I could see them, I saw that he had knocked her out unconscious. I have to get to the bottom of this... As he approached underneath my branch, I said the one word that definitely grab his attention.

"Itachi..." He stopped. I dropped down. "Sasuke... why are you doing this?" I implored him. "Sakura loves you very much. Even after all the mean things you've done to her and said to her." I could see the traveling bag he was carrying. I can infer that he is leaving the village. "To be honest, I dislike you to a certain extent, but I admire you. Cool, suave, good looking... You have talent, you're a genious, and you cared for your team... What happened to that? Why are you leaving us? Is it because of Itachi? I'm not sure what could've happened to make you want to kill him... but this is going too far. No. You know what? I'm not going to stop you. But I want to let you know that if you ever come back, I'm not going to forgive you that easily. I'll hate you. Our relations will be cut off and burned. Everything will start over from scratch. I'm not only saying this from myself. I'm saying it as the whole village."

"I know." he answered so coolly. "Our paths can't be entwined anymore. We'll be going separate ways now... Next time we meet... I wont be groveling. I'll warn you though... I wont be the same as right now. So you better surprise me." He walked past me. As if I was only an annoying fly.

But I don't cry anymore. "Naruto will be breathing better air than you, at a higher place." I said. He stopped again. Turning my head, slightly, to him, I said, "I'll surprise you. From this point on, we're enemies. And the distance between our strenghs will grow, me being on top. Because I have people worth living for. And I expect that you know already that once you kill this Itachi, you'll lose purpose to be living... You already gave up us. Just don't regret it."

He continued to leave. From the corner of my eye, I could see that he joined 4 other figures. With this rush of emotion, I shaded my eyes with my hand and looked to the ground. Even if I said all that, I hope that Naruto can save him. I hope that he'll come back and we can continue to be friends, a team.. a village... like before.

But why does it seem like a dream that has no path ... ?


	70. LAST CHAPTER!

**Kaneshi!  
Chapter 70****  
By: CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama**

**Everyone, audience, supporters, sponsors, etc etc. This is the last chapter of Kaneshi. But it will continue in a new story :) But it wont be named Hurricane Chronicles. It's so weird how this didn't even get to 100 chapters. **

**Let us have an applaud for the writer of Naruto who inspired with the idea of Kaneshi.**

* * *

I hugged myself tightly. Lying in bed, I couldn't help but think about the progress of Sasuke. My door was busted open by me, earlier. It felt like my old world was fading away. I pulled the covers over my head. This isn't right. I shouldn't be finding comfort in my bed when I should be taking actions to stop him. But what can I do? Sasuke and I were never close friends. Team mates. Acquaintances. What do I know about him.. ? Maybe I can start there, though. Know who he is and what he might be able to change to in the future. And train. For when we next meet. I have to prove myself. I have to become stronger than him and smarter than him. 

Getting up, I realized that I should inform Tsunade sama about this. Hoping my clothes weren't too wrinkled, I forced a piece of bread into my mouth and swallowed it down. Then I ran out the door. I have to get to the Hokage office before Sasuke gets too far. We have to send Naruto and whoever else would be very helpful in persuading and forcing Sasuke back to us. I can't be part of that team though.

Arriving at the doors, I banged on the door and strided in.

"Tsunade-sama. Last night, Sasuke ran away from the village, escorted by Orochimaru's aids. We have to send out a search party, now!"

She looked up at me, sternly, but then smiled gently. "A team of genins led by Shikamaru and a recommended one by me, Naruto, should be departing about now to rescue Sasuke. If you want to speak with them, they should be at the gates right now, readying to leave."

I opened my mouth, but I was speechless. Instead, I hurried to the gate. They have to save him. They have to save him. They HAVE to save him!

Thank goodness, they were still there. Neji, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto were huddled together, making plans. I can't say that I approved all the members entirely, but I can trust them. I joined the other two people there, Sakura and Rock Lee.

Out of breath, I wheezed out, "Naruto... It would be nice if you saved him, but more importantly, stay alive. Same with the rest of you. Losing Sasuke is one thing, but losing everyone else is a nightmare."

"No can do. Like I said earlier, I don't exactly favor or like Sasuke, but as a part of the Leaf Village, I'm willing to risk my life for another's." objected Shikamaru.

My chest tightened. This group... these genins... they were our last hope. But I believe they can do it. As they set off, I fell to my knees. Sakura helped me up. We looked at each other and could understand. Our fears and our wishes. The first time when Sakura and I could bond like this. Silently, after I helped Sakura and Rock Lee back, I went back to my apartment. Something crinkled as I stepped on the door mat. Looking down, there was an envelope and a box. I sat down and opened the envelope.

Hey Kane chan! I wont be back for 3 years for reasons that I can only tell when I come back. That is, IF I come back. But no worries. On the positive side, I've decided to become a shinobi of the Hidden Village of Leaf. No more dilly dallying for me. And I'm leaving you with something that'll benefit you to your advantage. Well, it helped me anyways. It's that mask I always wear. Its function is: it stores a small amount of chakra everytime you use it, and then when you're completely wasted, it'll replenish you with that saved chakra. Ahaha. I'm a genious. And here's a tip: You can create things out of chakra. I prefer nice looking things, but it's up to you.  
The most amazing person to walk this world, Rangekun Sensei.  
PS: Don't worry about Sasuke.

I ripped the box open. True to the letter, it really was his mask. The letter cheered me up, but it brought even more sorrow. Sasuke, Naruto and co., and sensei were gone. How can I not worry, though? Everything is a mess.

Opening the door, I crawled in and hopped into my bed. Covers over my head, I tried to fall asleep. Maybe it will help lift my worries.

* * *

I woke up from a nightmare. That Sasuke came back to the village and was destroying everything with a gleeful expression. What I want to make as the impossible. I grabbed my head and screamed. I used the pillow to muffle it. Why is this happening? Why? From fury, with burning chakra, I accidentally set the pillow on fire. Screaming even louder, I threw it out the window. Gah!!

But then, an idea hit me. Kakashi sensei. He's someone I can trust. I should tell him what happened! I distributed radarlike waves of chakra until it bounced off his. Using this, I hunted him down. He was located at the gates. In my rush, I crashed into him.

"Kakashi sensei! Sasuke, he--!"

"I know, Kaneshi. And I fear the battle that Sasuke and Naruto may face."

I heard a bark. Kakashi sensei looked in the direction it came from and left quickly. I pursuited him. Too suddenly, a monstrous blast of chakra tremored through me. Darting a look to Kakashi's becoming more distant back, I could only think of what might be happening and the worst possible outcome: Sasuke gone, Naruto dead. We came to a clearing... a waterfall... a river... the fire country's border... I've heard this place called the Valley of All Ends. Or something similar to that. What's worse was... the body of Naruto lying on the ground with Sasuke nowhere in sight. Stopping short, it seemed as if I just remembered something. About Sasuke's past.

Why he became such an evil avenging person.

Wasn't his entire clan killed... ? By the hands of his own brother, whom I might call Itachi ... ?

How did that lead to this certain path and end on this day?

Kakashi sensei came back to me, carrying Naruto on his back.

"Kakashi sensei... What's worse? The loneliness of having lost everything... or the loneliness of having nothing to lose... ?"

There was no answer. Silently, we went back to the village.

* * *

Thankfully, Naruto wasn't dead and woke up on the trip back. We also met up with medics during that trip. Shikamaru and Kiba were safe, but Chouji and Neji were in critical condition. But they were saved.

In my room, next to my bed, on the night stand, there is a picture frame. And in that picture frame is a picture. I sat on my bed, staring at it. Kakashi sensei smiling, Sakura looking lively, Naruto grinning happily, and Sasuke scowling. Smiling a little because of that picture, I turned the picture face-down. I believe our days as Team 7 are over. We've separated.. we may have different goals. But the memories will never be forgotten.. I don't think.

I guess that even after all this happened, I can still smile for the happy times and what could happen in the future.

3 years until sensei comes back. I don't know how long until Sasuke will be unsaveable, but I'll be training.

Just watch. I'll be full of surprises.


End file.
